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A Souvenir History 



OF 



Lincoln County, 



Kansas 



BY 

Elizabeth N. Barr, 

(A native and an old settler) 



1908 






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BcMcation: 






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^i^ /ly /o /Ae makers of his/orj/ thai t/ie ivri'iers of I'i 4* 

can most fitii'nff/j/ deeii'caie i/ieir tvor/c. So, here' s to the 4* 

iP/oneers of ^/ncotn Countu, Sor/ie of t/iem bu/ttted "i* 

better than thej/ /cnew, others tvorse than they intentted/ •!* 

4- 

but at/ things have worked together for good to those "I* 

4- 
who iove the ri'ffht. 4* 



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+ 

4- 




ELIZABETH N. BARR. 



PREFACE 



This book has been compiled fioin the writteu and verbal ac- 
counts of those who ought to know the history of Lincoln Coun- 
ty. Personally 1 knew nothing of this history when 1 began 
gathering the material, and when stories contlicted 1 was not 
prejudiced to either opinion but tried in all possible ways to as- 
certain the actual facts In the case. 1 have interviewed most 
of the early settlers and those to whom 1 am most indebted are: 
.1. .). I'eale, Richard Clark, and C'halmer Smith of Beverly; John 
S. Strange, N. B. Kees, Anna <". Wait, Fred Erhardt, Adolph 
Roenigk, E. M. Harris, Martin Hendrickson, Daniel Day, Cris. 
Bernhardt, C. M. Heaton, Tone Bishop, Ogden Green, .Myron 
Green of L.incoln: William Baird of Vesper; Mrs. Morgan and 
A. K. Buzick of Sylvan Grove. 

Those from a distance who have contributed letters and arti- 
cles are: b\ A .Schemerhorn, Eli Ziegler, and A. T. Biggs. Oth- 
ers have been kind enough to loan clippings. Among these clip- 
pings were articles by .J. K. Mead. .1. J. Peate, Thomas Strange, 
Washington Smith, Gen. Geo. A. Forsyth, also several important 
articles by unknown parties. Besides getting the statements 
of these people 1 have read the tiles of at least one newspaper 
from '73 down to date and searched the archives of the State His- 
torical Society diligently and gleaned all 1 could from that 
source. 

A special vote of thanks is due the newspapers and others who 
liave loaned cuts and pictures. 

1 wish to make special mention of those who have advertised 
in this book. They are the fellows who are up-to-date and p''o- 
gressive or they wouldn't be here. And it is the man who is 
public spirited, liberal, and broad minded with whom you want 
to deal, not simply because he will do the best for the com- 
munity but because he will do the best by you. As you read this 
book just notice who these men are. 

I have done my best to give a true account of the happenings 
of Lincoln Countj'. 1 know there will be some mistakes, and 1 
do not anticipate that everybody will agree with even that part 
of my story which is correct. If vou do not agree with me do 
not ask mo to change it now. If there is anything left out which 
you think ought to have been put in you should have spoken of 
it last summer. In case this book meets with your approval 1 
shall be happy. In ea.se it does not I refuse to worry. 

ELIZABETH X. BARR. 



History of Lincoln County 



Geology of Lincoln County 



Lincoln County lies directly under the ancient coast line of 
the Triassic age, along which were deposited enormous beds of 
salt, ranging from seventy-five to two hundred fifty feet in thick- 
ness, at depths ranging from four hundred fifty feet at Hutchin- 
son, Kans., to nine hundred twenty-five feet at Anthony, these 
depths being the least and greatest which have been found. So 
much for the salt. 

Stone was found in the neighborhood which when polislied 
made a very handsome marble surface. The I^incoln Board of 
Trade then sent for Robert Hay, a geologist, who reported on the 
geology of Lincoln County as follows: 

"The Geology of Liucoln County, Kansas, is mainly connected 
with two sub-divisions of the Cretacious group of formations. 
These in descending order are Benton series and Dakota series. 
There is some good building material in the Dakota, formed 
during ihr- epoch. The marble found in some limited districts 
may be looked for in other areas. It is quite likely that the 
Dakota sandstone will yield gas under favorable conditions. 
Tliese conditions are most likely to be found under the high 
land forming the divide from Lost Creek around the head of the 
Prosser and Rattlesnake Creeks. It is possible that similar con- 
ditions may be found in the southwest part of the county, and 
on the west line between Wolf and Spillman. Gas must not be 
sought near the outcrop of the strata, hence the localities indi- 
cated here. 

"The lignite at every place we visited was at the same geolog- 
ical horizon, very nearly at the top of the Dakota. It is useless 
to look for this bed low down in the Saline Valley. The best 
guide to its position is ihe lowest layer of Benton limestones. 
If the boring is begun at some twenty feet below that, the hori- 
zon of the lignite will be reached at less than one hundred feet. 
It Avill probably pay to test it on the slopes of Lost Creek, 
Beaver, Rattlesnake, Upper Bullfoot, and West Elkhorn. The 
Dakota may yet yield another lignite horizon, and if so, it will 
be better, being farther below the surface." 

J. R. Mead gives an account of a legendary tin mine in the 



History of Lhiculn County 



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HiHtury of Lincoln County 



vacinity of lOlkhoni or VAm Crook. So far it has nevor boon dis- 

COVOl'Od. 

Among the valuable materials which have boon found and used 
are coal, which was first discovered in wells; marble, red, brown, 
and purple, s-treaked with white: sail and l)uilding rock, which 
is still extensively quarried. 





The above is a piciuie of Table Rock, for which Table Rock 
Creek was named. For many years it was a great curio io trav- 
elers who came through this section, but was destroyed by nn- 
known parties some years ago. 



10 History of Lincoln County 



Pre-Historic 



Geographically speaking Lincoln ("ounly is in the central part 
of Kansas, and Kansas is in the center of the Universe, hence 
the importance of what shall follow. It is watered and drained 
by the Saline River, and by its tributaries, the creeks. Wolf and 
Spilhnan, Lost, Beaver, Twelve Mile on the north and Twin, Bull- 
foot, Spring, Elkhorn, Owl and Table Rock on the south, also 
by Rattlesnake and Battle Creek, which flow into Salt Creek in 
the northwestern part of the county. There are seven hundred 
fifty sections of arable land, most of which is under cultivation. 
The landscape is just rolling enough to be beautiful, but not to 
interfere with tillage. The air is so clear that the eye may span 
many miles, and looking from any high point one may see com- 
fortable and thrifty farm-yards, shaded by beautiful trees and 
surrounded by fertile well-kept fields. One can trace the streams 
by I heir wooded banks, and perhaps see the spires of a village 
in ihe distance. 

Withdraw these evidences of civilization from the scene, peo- 
ple it instead with occasional herds of buffalo, deer, elk, ante- 
lope, towns of prairie-dogs, packs of gray wolves, flocks of wild 
turkey and prairie-chickens, with perhaps a band of Indians 
mounted or afoot, and you have the proper scene for the be- 
ginning of these chronicles. 

Some of these herds of buffalo and deer were surprisingly 
large sometimes, containing tens of thousands. We have it on 
good authority that a single herd of buffalo crossing the railroad 
track some time in the sixties held up a train from nine o'clock 
in the morning till five in the evening. Mr. Erhardt tells of 
starting out from his home with a friend to get some tallow and 
killing ninety-two buffalos in one afternoon. This must have 
been before the year 1S70. In ten years from the time the first 
settlers came, buffalo began to be very scarce in the county, 
very few were seen after 1877. 

Mr. J. R. Mead, in a letter to Miss Clara Green, speaks of 
seeing a herd of elk between five hundred and a thousand, in 
number, coming down the valley from Spillman Creek. They 
crossed the Saline where the town of Lincoln now stands. A 
hundred great bucks were in the herd, their immense horns 



History of Lincoln County ' U 

looking lilvH a forest of dry coltonwood limbs, as they walked 
through the sunllowers with their bodies partly hidden by the 
grass and weeds. 

Mr. Mead also tells of a great herd of deer which he saw in 
this county. He has given a complete description of this section 
of the country in its natural state. We quote in brief: 

■'In the lowlands along the river the sunflowers grew a dense 
thicket ten feet high. Along the bluff was a line of drift show- 
ing the valley had been covered six feet with water. I'his line 
of drift extended far up the river, and the valley above where 
Lincoln now stands must have been covered, judging from the 
drift ten to fifteen feet deep, occasioned by the bluffs on either 
side and the thick timber forming a gorge." 

In his letter he says further: "1 and my party were nearly 
drowned on Wolf Creek in 1861. The water rose thirty feet in 
an liour. Big logs and trees were left at the foot of the bluffs 
a quarter of a mile from the creek." 

Besides the animals above mentioned there were many beav- 
ers, ravens, eagles, badgers, squirrels, porcupines, raccoons, 
foxes, otter, and wildcats. 

The famous Pawnee road which extended from Nebraska to 
the Big Bend of the Arkansas, thence wherever opportunity af- 
forded, came through what is now Lincoln County and crossed 
the Spillman five or six miles above its mouth. This well- 
watered, well-wooded country, full of big game, offered a happy 
hunting-ground, and with its ridges and rocks was a bonanza 
for primitive warfare. 

Of the tribes which frequented this country, the writer has 
learned very little except that Pottawatomies, Cheyennes, Sioux, 
Delawares, Kaws, Otoes, and Pawnees were all seen by early 
hunters in the valleys of the Saline and Spillman. It seems 
that these Indians were seldom dangerous if they knew a white 
man was armed and had the will and ability to defend himself. 
But J. R. Mead has well said: "The timid and weaklings had 
no business in that country." The Pawnees in particular were 
capable of being docilized, and the superior keenness which 
ages of thieving had taught them, made them valuable govern- 
ment scouts in the border warfares. They were excellent horse- 
men, and had a thorough knowledge of the country over which 
their raids extended, hundreds of miles in width and from Ne- 
braska to Mexico. 

The Pawnee road above mentioned was no defined path, but 
just a route within a strip of country a mile or so in width. 
They made semi-annual buffalo hunts with this road as a basis. 
Next in importance, as a means to wealth and honor was their 



12 History of Lincohi County 

thieving expeditions. J. R. Alead describes tlie equipment of one 
of tliese parties: "Tlie Pawnees invariably went on tliese expe- 
ditions afoot in parties of from two to tliirty-five, composed 
mostly of young men. They were lightly armed, all had a very 
serviceable bow and quiver of arrows, and a knife. Each In- 
dian carried from four to six extra pair of new moccasins, one 
oi- more lariats, twenty pounds of dried meat, some pieces of 
strap to repair their clothing also a pipe and tobacco, an occa- 
sional light squaw axe and a few trifles. This was all that was 
necessary for a thousand mile .iourney. Although they went 
nfoot they expected to come back mounted for when they raided 
another tribe they depended on stealing enough horses to gel 
away on. A piece of tanned hide looped around the lower jaw 
of the horse was bridle enough. They were so successful that 
they were hated by all other plains tribes. Their hand was 
against every man and every man's hand against them. All 
tribes were united in theii' effort to exterminate the thieving 
Pawnees." 

Mr. Mead says further: "Periodically the Cheyenne warriors 
spread out like a net, swept over the rolling country of hills 
and streams and valleys between the Solomon and Saline in 
eager search of (he detested raiding parties." 

The Pawnees avoided conflict wherever possible as il inter- 
fered with their business, they were out to steal ponies and not 
to pick quarrels, but once drawn into battle they were among 
the bravest and most skilled w^arriors of the plains. 

The Pawnees followed the same program after the coming 
of the whites. They had once occupied all the territ-ority of 
Kansas and still claimed it, and thought they had a right to gain 
their living from it. This worked a great hardship on the set- 
tlers, which, with other hardships of pioneer life, prompted 
Wasshington Smith in his history to ask what motives "impelled 
men to leave ihe scenes of childhood, the surrounding of youth, 
the love of kindred and associations of home, the tender ties of 
friendship and the graves of their ancestors to contend with the 
inclement skies and inhospitable shores of an unknown coun- 
try" 

Their riiotives were various, but in any case it was not 
dangers, hardships, privations, calamity, war and death which 
Jilled the minds of those who laid the foundations of our present 
( ommonwealth. It was rather the opportunity of a new country, 
a veritable new heaven and new earth, which attracted them. 
Here was an opportunity to transfer Ihe best of what existed 
in older settled places and to build to that something more ad- 
vanced and better, and economically an opportunity to gain 



History of Lincoln County 



lunv and i iclior estates tof t licniselvcs. and better advantages 
foi- their children. 

Those wlio looked on the right and not the wrong side of the 
picture had strength, and faith to endure all adversity and were 
permitted to see with their own eyes all these things come to 
pass. Such is the reward of the hope tluit "sijrings eternal in 
the human breast." 



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1^4 History of Lincoln County 



Coming of the White Men 



It is not possible to go very far back in the history of Lin- 
coln County, although our introduction has shown that prehis- 
toric times in this section of the country must have bfien full 
of interesting events. We have seen that with its superior ad- 
vantages for food, war and spoit it was the favorite stomping 
ground of several tribes of Indians. It was claimed by more 
than one tribe, even after it had become government tana by 
treaty. The Pawnees, especially, still considered it theirs and 
thought they had a right to gain their living from it by raids. 

The first white man on record to visit what is now Lincoln 
County was Bourgmont and his party in 1724. His line of march 
has been traced through the county going from east to west. 
Pike and his party came through in 1806. His line of march 
extended from the north, and the two routes intersected about 
the place where Lincoln Center now stands. 

In the fifties hunting parties going up the Saline and Solomon 
Rivers operated in the territority which is now Lincoln County. 
Few of them left any record of theii- findings or their exper- 
iences. 

Some of Mr. Mead's adventures appeared in Vol. IX of the 
State Historical collections from which the following quotations 
are taken: 

"There was a battle fought on the plains north of the Spillman 
Creek in June, 1861. The Otoe tribe from the north, with their 
families and a letter from their agent, came down for a big 
hunt. They camped in the valley along the creek. The Chey- 
ennes found them and sent three or four hundred warriors to 
drive them out. The Cheyennes were afraid to charge the 
camp as the Otoes had guns. Both sides fought on horseback 
with bows and arrows and after the battle arrows could be 
picked up everywhere. In one instance two young men rushed 
together at full speed, seized each other with their left hands, 
stabbing with their right till both fell dead without releasing 
their hold. The Otoes finally retreated down the river to my 
ranch with scalps, ears, fingers and toes of their enemies, 
trophies of the fight, tied on poles. 

"Once I left a young fellow at a camp I had established while 



History of Lincoln County 1j 

I went over to Wolf Creek lo hunt a few days. On returning 
I found my man hidden out in (he brush nearly frozen, with 
nothing to wear but his under clothes. Two Indians came 
along with some stolen horses, saw he was scared, made him 
cook all they could eat then took off his clothes or whatever 
else they wanted and leisurely packed their ponies. Back 
of the camp shelter was my young man with two loaded guns 
hid under some skins. He was too badly scared to use them. 
He could easily have gotten away with both Indians, but he 
lacked grit. 

"On another occasion (December, 1861), I established a 
camp on Spillman Creek and after collecting a quantity of furs 
left one man in the camp and went to hunt with my other man 
and team. It was very cold and snow deep. In a day or two 
the man I had left came to my camp; said he heard shooting 
around, was scared and skipped in the night. I drove back and 
found my camp plundered and a big trail in the snow leading 
down to the river. Directing my men to follow I started after 
them on my pony. In a few miles I saw them ahead on foot. Each 
one had a big wolf skin of mine hanging down his back, a slit 
in the neck going over his head. There were thirty-three of 
the party. I followed them unseen for some distance and saw 
I could not possibly get around them as my pony could hardly 
stand, her feet were so smooth; but I had to get to my ranch 
ahead of them, so I rode into them and was surrounded and 
captured. I found they were a party of Sioux on maraudin.g 
expedition, some of them, the most villinanous-looking beings 
1 ever saw. I .gave them a good talk, let on I was glad to see 
them, proposed we all travel together to which they agreed, 
had a jolly time for half a day, by which time I had so in- 
gratiated myself with the chief who was a fine fellow, that I was 
allowed to go on alone. Our conversation was carried on in 
sign language. I had two men at the ranch and my men with 
the team got in that night. The Indians came to my place the 
next morning and built a fortified camp in the timber back of 
the house. I treated them nicely, gave them tobacco and got 
all my furs back except an otter skin." 

"Uncle Mike" Sterns, as he is familiarly known here, used to 
hunt in this country with Uncle Tom Boyle, Ade Spahn, and a 
man by the name of Dean, in fifty-eight and fifty-nine. He 
says that the Moffit ranch house was located about 150 yards 
down the Saline River from Rocky Hill bridge on the north 
bank. The evacuation may be seen there at this time. 

On one of these hunting trips the party camped near the 
mouth of Beaver Creek under a large oak tree that is familiar 



i*} Historu of Lincoln County 

to all of the old settlers and on going to the creek for water 
t'oiuid it dry. Spahn, being an old hunter, led the party up the 
creek very cautiously and when near where the Dan Day's barn 
now stands, they came upon a beaver dam where several 
hundred beavers were busily engaged in enlarging it. Uncle 
.Mike says that it was one of the most beautiful sights he has 
ever seen. 

On another of these hunting expeditions they pitched their 
camp on the Blkhorn bottom south of Rocky Hill. One of them 
carelessly threw a quarter of buffalo meat on the picket pins. 
That night when they staked the horses out with the pins the 
wolves were so ravenous that they gnawed the pins to pieces, 
the horses escaped and they never recovered them, une of 
the number walked to their home in Salina and brouKln ui) a 
team of oxen v/ilh which they continued the hunt. On this 
I lip they saw some wolves surround a cast off buffalo and make 
a circle around him with relays and after chasing him till he 
was exhausted they hamstringed him and devoured lilm. This 
took place around the bluff near where Sam Weigert now lives, 
southeast of Lincoln. 

At one tim.e when camped on the .1. W. McReynolds farm in 
what is now Franklin township, the others of the party went 
away for the day, as was their usual custom, and left Mr. 
Sterns in charge of the camp. A party of Indians came up 
and asked for coffee. lie refused to gel it for them and after 
repeatedly asking for it they grew angry and one of them 
IjicUed up a loaded musket, cocked it and placed the muzzle 
at his bi'east. He then pointed to the bucket and to the si)ring 
up ilM hill and told them to go. He did so, and upon retuinin?, 
found the Indians gone and all of !h<> camp supplies stolen. 

The accompanying illustiation is the scene of a battle-ground 
of the Pottawatomie and Pawnee Indians, on Bullfoot. Indian 
bones were found in tlie cave shown in the picture and vari- 
ous opinions have been advanced as to how they came tlieie. 
Mr. F. A. Schemerhorn says in a letter: "'As to the battle be- 
tween two Indian tribes on Bullfoot. I went over there in 1867 
and gathered up a sack full of skulls and gave them to Dr. T. B. 
Fryer then post surgeon at Fort Harker, and nearly every 
si<ull had a liullci hole in ii. showing that they were killed by 
bullets and not wilii arrows. It was generally believed then 
ihai those Indians weic i<illed in a tight with some buffalo-hunl- 
ei's in l-SGa, I think <m P.eaver Creek. 1 think Dan Day now 
owns the place where the fis-'ht occurred. As it was the custom 
of the Indians to buiy their dead by placing them upon scaf- 
folds in some out-of-the-way place and on some high point gen- 



Histoi-ij of Lincoln County 



eraJly. we supposed they canied their dead from the fight on 
Beaver Creek over to the point of the rocks on Bullfoot, which 
was at that time an out-of-the-way place, as the hunters and 
trappers going up the river generally traveled up the north 




Indian Battleground. 



side of the stream. There was no travel to amount to any- 
thing on the south side of the river when I went there in 1867." 

I\Ir. Ferdinand Erhardt, who came to live on Bullfoot in 1867, 
found a number of skeletons in the cave before mentioned 
but gives a different explanation. 

One day in 1868 Mr. Erhardt was walking along the ridge on 
the south side of Bullfoot when his dog, prowling among the 
locks, came up with a skull. ]\Ir. Erhardt followed the dog 
back and found an open cave filled with Indian skeletons. He 
reported his find to P'ort Harker, and the soldiers sent a con- 
veyance to remove the skeletons to that place. There were 
sixteen whole skeletons In the cave, and they were sufficiently 
preserved to be moved without going to pieces. Mr. Erhardt at 
that time shared the belief spoken of by Mr. Schemerhorn, 
namely, that these were the remains of Indians killed by the 
;\rofRt boys on Beaver Creek. 

But about the year 1880 a band of Pottawatomie Indians 
camped on Bullfoot and laid out the battle-ground for Mr. Er- 
hardt, and also left the story of the aft'ray in characters on the 
wall of the cave. It seems that the Pottawatomies and Pawnees 
had been quarreling about their hunting-ground. The Pot- 



18 History of Lincoln County 



lawatomies drove this band of Pawnees in from the west, who, 
being hard pressed, took refuge in this cave and were massa-" 
creed by the Pottawatomies. A Pottawatomie was killed by a 
Pawnee who shot up from the cave. Those who do not believe 
that such a battle occurred, and that this was a burying-ground 
instead of a battle-ground, base their opinion on three things. 

First, that the Indians were killed by bullets and not by ar- 
rows. 

Second, that there were no remains of horses found near the 
place, and that Pawnee ingenuity would scarcely pern It them 
lo take refuge in such a death-trap as this cave proved to be. 

Third, that both the Pottawatomie and the Pawnee Indians 
were peaceful and never had any fights. 

The writer is inclined to credit the story of the battle. It 
was learned by Mr. Erhardt direct from the Pottawatomie In- 
dians themselves. Mr. J. R. Mead is authority for the state- 
ment that in the year 18(jl a large band of Otoes who camped 
'on the Spillman weie armed with guns. So the Pawnees and 
Pottawatomies might have had them two years later. 

l)idians were often, but by no means always, mounted on 
horses. According to the record left on the rocks the pursuing 
party was mounted. ]\lr. Sol. Humbarger says the Pawnees 
were likely on one of their thieving expeditions on foot. They 
were driven in to the rocks from the north or northwest. 

The fact that their enemies were mounted and they were not 
will probably account for the Pawnees taking refuge in the first 
stronghold which presented itself instead of choosing a better 
place to defend. 

The Pottawatomies that camped near the battle-ground in 
1880 had an interpreter with them, who talked with Mr. Elrhardt. 

Authorities do not agree on the peaceful qualities or these 
Indians, and ^Ir. Mead says in a letter:: "1 left in the spring 
of 1863, so I know nothing personally of the battle between the 
Pottawatomies and Pawnees. ITsually the Pawnees did not wish 
to fight." He says in another place: "These raiding parties 
of Pawnees were the especial objects of hatred of all the tribes 
of the plains both north and south, who fought and if possible 
killed them wherever found." 

THE MOFFIT BOYS. 

In spite of the fact that the countr\ up the Saline River was 
not considered safe, a settlement was attempted in 1864 which 
ended disastrously. In March six persons, Charlie Chase, Will- 
iam Chase, .Marion Chase, and .lohn I\Toffit. Flave .Moody and an 



History of Lincoln County 19' 

unknown party, who wrote (he story for the "Salina Journal," 
started westward from their camp near where the Saline bridge 
now stands, to start a settlement on Spillman Creek. They 
halted and pitched their camp between Beaver Creek and the 
Saline River, in the second bend below the mouth of the Beaver. 
This camp was blown up by the explosion of a keg of powder. 
The boys then built a log-house and stable. Charles Chase and 
John MofRt went to Salina for r: ovislons. During their ab- 
sence the rest of the party -ad to live on parched corn. After 
three days of this exclusive cereal diet Flave Moody and Marion' 
Chase started to walk east and the other two stayed by the 
goods. When the provisions arrived they baked biscuits and 
bachelor-like forgot to put either soda or baking powder in them. 
The next move was to buy three cows. They had four horses 
and one yoke of oxen. Although they had not filed on land they 
fenced in and ])lanted twenty acres of corn. About the last of 
May they were driven off by an Indian outbreak. They all ai-- 
rived in safety at their former camp near the Saline bridge. 

About July 1, against all protests, John Moffit and his brother 
Thomas, with a Mr. Hueston and Mr. Taylor, came back to the 
ranch. In August, while out on a buffalo hunt, they were sur- 
prised by the Indians. Settlers w^ho lived about Salina fail tO' 
agree in regard to the particulars of this incident. The follow- 
ing is a part of an official report to the Government from the 
headquarters of the Eleventh Volunteer Cavalry at Salina by 
Capt. Henry Booth, of Company L: 

"Saturday evening, August 6, 1864, four men, two men (broth- 
ers) Moffit, one Taylor, and one Heuston, started from their 
ranch to kill a buffalo for meat, taking a two-horse team with, 
them. Upon reaching the top of the hill about three-quarters of 
a mile from the house, the Indians were discovered rushing 
down upon them. The horses were turned and run toward a 
ledge of rock where the men took position. They appear to have 
fought desperately and must have killed several Indians, but one 
of the scalps was left on a rock close by. The horses were 
both shot through the head. This was probably done by the 
ranchmen to prevent them from falling into the hands of the 
Indians. The wagon was burned. The Indians made a descent 
upon the house in which were an old man and a woman. The 
man shot one of the Indians through a hole in the wall where- 
upon they all fled. They judge the number of the Indians to be 
about one hundred. The Indians retreated up the Saline River.' 

There is a letter written to Robert Nichol Moffit, of Illinois, 
by his brother John, dated May 1 3, 1864, which says: "We came 
here March 16. We are twenty-five to thirty miles from Salina 



20 History of Lincoln County 

up the Saline River. We are now tliirteen miles from the near- 
est house. We put up a stable thirty-five feet in length and a 
house twenty-two feet of logs." 

This ought to prove that the Moltil boys really had a house 
and not merely a dugout. The writer to whom we are indebted 
for the account of the trip in the early spring, says they built a 
log house and stable. He also says that the woman in the 
house was Mrs. Hueston, and that she had her two children 
with her at the time. 

They stayed all night in the house, and all the next day 
watched for Indians. The second night they dug a hole under 
the back of the house and escaped without coming out at the 
door. They wandered all night on the Elkhorn and the next 
morning found their way to the settlements. 

A party of twelve men went to look for the bodies and found 
them in the place described. There was sixteen arrows m jonii 
Moffit and fourteen in Tom. The bodies were temporarily b.nied 
on the scene of the battle. 




Scene of the Battle Between the Moffit Boys and the Indians. 

The place of the tragedy is described as being the rocky ledge 
upon the northeast quarter section nine, township twelve, range 
seven in Elkhorn township of what is now Lincoln County. 

Robert Nichol MoiTit came from Illinois to recover the re- 
mains of his two brothers. He is said to have left Salina Sep- 
tember 20, with an escort of soldiers and gone up the Saline to 
where his brothers were buried, to have disinterred the re- 
mains and taken them to Wethertield, ill., where they were laid 
to rest. 



Hisfory of Lincoln Couhty 21 



Settlements 



Thf first permanent abode of white men was built in the bend 
of the river, not far from where Beverly now stands, by the 
Colorado boys. The "Colorado boys" belonged to the First 
Colorado Cavalry, and while stopping" at Salina in 1865 came 
up the Saline and filed on nearly all the river lands from 
the mouth of the Beaver, east to where the county line 
now is. Six of them returned between Christmas and New 
Years the same year, with government cattle to occupy their 
claims. They were Richard B. Clark, of Indiana, who is now 
the only survivor, and still lives at Beverly; Jas. M. Adams, of 
the British Isles, Isaac De Graff, of New York, nicknamed Gen- 
eral De Graff on account of his good judgment, Edward E. 
.Johnson, of Massachusetts, Wm. E. Thompson, of Maine, who 
had been educated for a Catholic priest, and who w&s killed 
by Indians in the Black Hills in 1876, and Darius C. Skinner, 
of Ohio, whose family is prominent in Lincoln County. These 
men had crossed the plains prior to the war, and had been in 
turn miners, and soldiers until they got tired and settled down. 
They lived in the one dugout for mutual protection until it was 
safe for each one to live on his claim. 

The next spring a number of settlers were added to this 
nucleus. As many names as could be collected are here given 
without any attempt at giving the order of their coming. 

Geo. Green and wife, of Massachusetts, whose daughter Liz- 
zie, born October 18, 1866, was the first white child born in this 
county. She married David Parker. W. T. Wild, of England, 
and John Dart, of Connecticut, witli their families, J. J. Peate, 
Wm. Gaskill, the Haleys, M. D. Green, Michael Ziegler, John S. 
Strange, Washington Smith, jMartin Hendrickson, David G. 
Bacon, Volney Ball, J. C. Parks, Thomas Moon, Chalmer Smith, 
Marseilles Smith, Caning Smith. Nicholas Whalen, Thomas E. 
Skinner and wife, Mary M. Skinner. These people all came in 
1866. It has been impossible to find out all the people who came 
the next year, but Louis Farley Andrew, DeGraff, and Ferdinand 
Erhardt, M. S. Green were among the number. 

The first year the settlers had to buy all their provisions at 
the following rates: Sugar, IS to 20 cents per pound; coffee, 



'^2 Histo7-y of Lincoln County 

50 cents per pound: bacon, 2;") to 80 cents per pound: tlour, 
$7.00 to $11.00 per hundredweight; corn. $1.00 to $2.00 per 
bushel. 

They killed buffalo and other game for meat, and might have 
lived pretty high for pioneers if it had not been for the difficulty 
of getting these provisions to the settlements. One party 
would go east after bread-stuffs and other necessities, while 
another would go west after meat. Sometimes these expedi- 
tions were delayed on account of the weather and the people 
ran' out of bread. At such times they would supplement their 
diet of prairie chicken or fish with their precious seed corn. 
This corn was often ground in a coffee mill or prepared in an 
old fashioned hominy mortar. This was made of a log about 




A Pioneer Home. 

three feet long stood on end, and a hole hewed in the top to 
hold the corn. A wedge was fastened in the end of a stick about 
the size of a piclc handle. The corn was cracked with this 
wedge. Tho finest was used for bread and the coarse for 
hominy. 

The old fa.-hi()ii"d whip saw was used to saw the lirsl lumber. 
A scaffold was liuilt and llie logs rolled on it. One man stood 
on top to pull I he saw up and one stood under to pull it down. 

But in spite of these things the lot of the pioneer in this sec- 
tion of the country was not so hard and his sufferings were 
not so severe as in many of the earlier communities of the 
Stale. It is true that they weie in danger of Indian raids and 



History of Lincoln County 23 

were often driven from their homes, but they never faced 
actual starvation, and there are no records of anyone dying from 
want. They got their mail with comparative frequency and 
were obliged to haul provisions only forty miles instead of from 
a hundred to two hundred as some other communities did. 

And above all this section offered its adopted children plenty 
of wholesome water, pure air and a healthful climate gener- 
ally. 

Sometimes money was earned by hauling buffalo bones to 
market or by killing wolves and buffalo for their hides. F. A. 
Schemerhorn has the honor of being the first bone-picker. Sev- 
eral other honors are due this gentleman, which will be spoken 
of as occasion permits. The first postoffice was at his ranch. 



The Medicine Man 



Among the tribes of the plains the medicine man has always 
been next in importance to the chief. He is usually the best 
educated man in the tribe and his wisdom is consulted on 
all occasions, not only in things pertaining to his profession, 
but in affairs of war and diplomacy. 

In our civilized life the medical man (who is often a woman), 
is even more important. He is a specialist and has his work 
down to a fine point. He plays such worthy role in the affairs 
of men that no history can leave him out of account. No story 
of the human race is complete without giving due credit to 
those who help us in and out of the world — these toll collectors 
who stand at both the front and the back doors of life. 

It is all right for one who is not sick to joke about the doctor, 
for he that is well needeth not a physician; but anyone who is 
suffering wants a doctor at once, and there is no greater bless- 
ing to a communitj^ than a sufficient number of physicians, who 
understand their business. There is hardly a person who gives 
up more personal pleasure and works harder in his profession. 
The pioneer doctor in Lincoln Center was Dr. Vernon. Dr. 
Gilpin came soon afterwards. 

Dr. Sarah Goff was the pioneer lady doctor. She began prac- 
ticing in Lincoln in 1885 and was successful from the start. 
Her medical instruction began under Dr. Holloway, of Lincoln, 
and in 1886 she graduated from Hanneman Medical College of 
Chicago. 



24 



History of Lincoln Couidy 



DR. H. M. HALL 



Is the oldest practic- 
ioner in Lincoln at 
present. He was born 
near London, England, 
in 1835, and came with 
the family to Illinois 
the next year and lived 
in Tonlson. 

His education was re- 
ceived in the schools of 
Illinois and the Knox 
Seminary in Galesburg. 
He graduated from the 
medical department of 
the Iowa University, re 
ceiving his degree in 
18.58. After practicing 
medicine in S t a r k 
County, Illinois, for a 
number of years he en- 
tered the Chicago Medi- 
cal College, which is 

now the medical department of the Northwestern University, 

and graduated in 1881. 

He came to Lincoln in ISS.'i and has practiced here ever since. 

Ten years ago he went into the drug business in connection 

with his practice. 

Doctor Hall was made a iMason in 1SG2 and is now one of the 

oldest Masons in the State. 




Histu)'ij of Lincoln Cowdy 



25 



DR. JAMES LOUGHRIDGE. 




Dr. James Lougliridge 
was born and raised in 
Appanoose County, 
Iowa. He received his 
common school educa- 
tion in a little school 
house with a red door. 
He went to Amity Col- 
lege, at College Springr3, 
Iowa. His medical edu- 
cation was in the Uni- 
versity Medical College, 
at Kansas City, Mo., 
where he took his de- 
gree in 1889. He has 
had a great deal of hos 
pital and clinical work. 

Ever since his gradu- 
ation Doctor Loughridge 
has practiced in Lin- 
coln, where he has a 
large and lucrative prac- 
tice. He has a large, well-equipped office, containing among 
other things an operating table and ex-ray room. He is especi- 
ally prepared for eye wnik. 



26 



History of Lincoln County 



DR. ALFRED HULTNER. 



This remarkable man 
was born in Sweden, in 
the Province of Oste- 
rysthland, city of Lind- 
koping. His early edu- 
cation was in the gov- 
ernment schools of his 
native city. He attend- 
ed college at the Uni- 
versity of Upsala, and 
studied medicine first at 
the Karolinska Medi- 
cuska institution in 
Stockholm, later at the 
University of Heidel- 
berg in Germany, spend- 
ing five years in the 
study of medicine in 
these two schools. Doc- 
lor Ilultner practiced 
medicine first in Span- 
ish Honduros in the city 
of Puerto Cortez, in the 
year 1893. The next yoai- ho was registered to practice medi- 
cine in Iowa. The next year he came to Kansas and practiced 
at Wellsford. In 1896 he attended the University Medical Col- 
lege at Kansas City and took his degree. 

In 1897 there was a piivate hospital of considerable size at 
Lawrence owned by Biinn & lIuKner, in which our friend was a 
full partner. 

Doctor Hultner has been practicing in Lincoln since 1898. His 
specialties are surgery and diseases of women and children. 
Among his other accomplishments he speaks five languages, 
Danish, Swedish, German, Spanish, and English. 




History of Lincoln County 



27 



DR. PAUL NEWLON. 



The youngest mem- 
ber of the medical fra- 
ternity in Lincoln, is a 
home product. He was 
born here and received 
his common and high 
school education in the 
home schools. 

He attended the Uni- 
versity Medical Collegia 
in Kansas City, Mo., 
and while in Kansas 
City he had consider- 
able hospital work. 
He was eight months ai 
the University Hos- 
pital, at the City Hos- 
pital two years, and 
has a diploma from that 
institution, He was an 
Inturn for several 
months. For foui- 
months he was on the 
police ambulance staff. 

Last May he graduated and 
has been busy ever since. 




came to Lincoln to practice. He 



28 



History of Lincoln Coutdy 



DR. SARAH A. COLE. 



Dr. Sarah A. Cole is 
llie second lady physi- 
cian to locate in Lin- 
coln County, and the 
only practitioner of the 
Homeopathic school In 
Lincoln. 

She was born on the 
Atlantic Ocean, and re- 
ceived her early educa- 
lion in the schools of 
West Virginia. She 
came to Lincoln County 
in 1S82, and taught 
school here for a num- 
ber of years. Her med- 
ical education began 
under the precept orship 
of Dr. Sarah A. Goff, 
with whom she studied 
I wo years. She gradu- 
ated from the Iowa Uni- 
versity in 1889, and lo- 
cated at Port Austin, .Mich. Duriim her eight years practice 
there, she was city health officer for three years, and medical 
examiner for the Ladies of the Macabees. 





Dr. Colt '^ o.iMl.u luiM. 



History of Lincoln County 



29 



In 1898 she went \o 
the Hanneman Medical 
College in Chicago, took 
a full year's course and 
graduated. H a v i n i^ 
friends in Lincoln, she 
decided to locate here. 
Eight years ago Doctoj- 
Cole began building a 
sanitarium for the ac- 
commodation of emer- 
gency cases. At the 
present time it has a 
capacity of ten patients 
with hospital facilities 
and all modern im- 
provements. A new 
bath house annex is 
nearly completed. 11 
will contain the appar.a- 
tus for all kinds of 
water, electric, vapor, 
and sun baths. 




MISS HANNAH R. COLE. 

Miss Hannah R. Cole is a sister of Doctor Cole. She Is (he 
trained nurse of the sanitarium, and also gives Osteopathi<> 
massage. 



30 History of Lincoln County 



Indian Troubles of 1868 



The Saline and Solomon Valleys were often visited by marud- 
ing bands of Indians who killed or carried away the settlers, 
and destroyed property. The territory which is now Lincoln 
County was considered unsafe and the settlers lived in con- 
stant alertness for their red foes. While the primary object 
of these raids was to get food and plunder, the savage- nature 
of the Indian would not let him stop merely with compelling 
settlers to cook for them and to give up their valuables. 

During the raids of August, 1868, the neighbors were gathered 
at VVm. Hendrickson's place on account of the Indians. Word 
came that the Indians had hoisted a black flag on IBullfoot. 
They were badly in need of food. But the women tJiat had 
charge of the citadel would not allow them to go out while the 
danger lasted. 

Among the people were .Martin Hendrickson, Jonn nfrangr, 
Tom Alderidice, Fred Erhardt, Phil Lantz, and a Mr. Shaw. 
The married men had their families there. Finally Martin 
Hendrickson and Fred Erhardt managed to get away and they 
rode around to see what they could find. They weut south, 
crossed the river at the Thieman place, went on till they 
crossed BuUfoot and found the black Hag on the south side of 
the creek a mile from Erhardt's place. It proved to be a piece 
of calico put up by some white man for a joke. They then 
dismounted, and, leading their horses, began to look for Indian 
tracks. They came up the river to the mouth of the Spillman. 
crossed to the north side, and came toward home. They saw two 
people with handkerchiefs on their heads and thought at first 
they were Indians, but on coming nearer found theia to be 
two little girls, aged six and eight. The elder said, "The Indians 
have had us." The younger said, "1 wish 1 had a piece ^f bread 
and some water." 

These children were captured on the Solomon in Beloit and 
carried away by the Indians who, when surprised by the sol- 
diers, dropped them on the heights northwest of Lincoln. They 
had spent the night in a deserted house and when found thought 
they were still on the Solomon. The circumstance was re- 
ported to Fort Marker. A rumor was out that two children had 



History of Lincoln County '^^ 



been taken from Beloit. A telegram was sent from Foil Marker 
and their father, Allen Bell, came and took them home. They 
remained a week at Wm. Hendrickson's. 

A few days before this, about August 8, three women, Mrs. 
Shaw, Mrs. David G. Bacon, and Miss Foster, were capturecl 
in a raid on the Spillman. Mrs. Bacon had her baby with her. 
The women were abused terribly and bound with ropes. Mrs. 
Bacon became insensible by a blow on the head which cut to 
the bone, and was left on the prairie for dead. Later in the 
day she was picked up again by the Indians. At nl^ht they 
placed the women on ponies and told them to go to their 
wigwams. Mrs. Bacon was so nearly exhausted that uhe fell 
off her horse and the other women were obliged to go ,on with 
out her. She was found the next morning by Mail in Hen 
drickson, who was the advance guard in the searching- party. 
She still had her baby, but both were suffering intensely. 

In connection with this raid Mr. F. A. Schemerhorn says: 
"Our first child was born August S, 1868. The Indians made a 
raid in there that day." 

The timely arrival of Colonel Benteen with his troop,* of the 
Seventh Cavalry, which was Custer's regiment, no doubt saved 
a general massacre. It is the opinion of many of the old set- 
tlers that Colonel Benteen just happened to be coming ^through 
here. We quote from Mr. Schemerhorn on this point. 

"About three p. m., August 8, 1868, Colonel Benteen with his 
troops, A and G of the Seventh Cavalry, came to my ranch. 
The Colonel, being an old acquaintance, came in to call on me, 
and asked if there were any Indians to shoot. I said I thought 
not, as they had made a raid a few days ago, and I believed 
had left the vicinity as usual. He said the Government scouts 
reported quite a large body of Indians in our vicinity and that 
he had made a forced march from Fort Zarah, seventy-three 
miles, since two p. m. the day before. The horses had not been 
unsaddled since starting. He mounted his horse and said he 
was going over to the river about a mile and a half to await 
supplies which were coming to him from the fort. In about a 
naif hour 1 heard a lot of shooting and yelling and kne\r it was 
the soldiers. 

"Pretty soon a young man, Insley, I think was his name, came 
running his horse, and yelling at every jump that the Indians 
and soldiers were fighting. 'Give me your revolvers,' he cried. 
He repeated the request several times but I told him under the 
circumstances I thought I had better keep them myself. I asked 
him where he was going and he said down the river after more 
men to fight the Indians. In about an hour a sergeant and 



32 



History of Lincoln County 



tour men came saying Colonel Benteen sent them to tell me 
tliat everything was O K., that they had driven the Indians 
across the Saline and there was no further danger at present." 
It seems hardly possible that this engagement wai on the 
John Hendrickson place. The Indians are known to iiave at- 
tacked his house which was near Lincoln, and which was 
afterward occupied by soldiers, and now forms the corner of 
the Pioneer House. 




The Pioneer House of Lincoln, which contains some historic 

logs. 



It is known that during this attack some soldiers appeared 
on the scene and drove them away. 

It is hard to reconcile dates given by different people. Mr. 
Schemerhorn says the raid on the outskirts of the settlement 
occurred on 2d and ;Jd, of August, and that the troops came 
on the 8th, but if the soldiers drove Ihe Indians out on the 
sth, how did they become bold enough to come back und raid 
again between the l(h and i:!th, as we shall note later in E. E. 
.lohnson's diary? We leave the question for a later historian. 

It seems probable that some of Black Kettle's men were on 
the Spillraan about this time and may have been the partj 
10 attack the Hendrickson place. 

Black Kettle's territory was invaded by Custer a short (inie 



History of Lincoln County 33 



afterward, and his whole village was destroyed. One hundred 
thirty warriors were killed, and the squaws taken captive. 

Mr. Schemerhorn says further: "General Sully came a few 
days after and established his headquarters and it was then 
that the blockhouse was built." 

General Sheridan, who was in command of this department, 
came to the headquarters from Missouri. He met Mr. J. J. 
Peate (August. 1S(3S) at Schemerhorn's store on the l^lkhorn 
As Mr. Peate was a Government scout for Sheridan, ana a good 
Indian fighter, the General selected him to help gamer logerncr 
and organize a company of volunteers from among the settlers 
and hunters to protect the frontier. Sixty men were enlisted, 
of which nuniber twenty-three were from the Saline Valley. 
These were J. J. Peate. Chalmer Smith, E. E. .Johnson, com- 
mander of the volunteers. D. V. Skinner, Fletcher Vilott, Louis 
Farley and his son Hutchison, Thomas Alderdice, Thomas 
Boyle, Eli Ziegler, Geo. Green, John Lyden, and John Haley, of 
the section which is now Lincoln C^ounty, and G. W. Culver, 
Frank Herington, Howard Morton, G. H. Tucker, G. B. Clark, A. 
J. Eutsler, E. E. Tozier, K. R. Tozier, Wm. Stubbs, and J. E. 
Green, from Ottawa -and Saline Counties. 

The operations of this body of scouts were not in Lincoln 
County, and it may seem far fetched to include an account of 
their campaign in this history, but the writer believes tliat it 
belongs here for various reasons. 

The campaign ended with one of the greatest Indiar. battles 
ever fought on American soil, and the most important part in 
this battle was taken by Saline Valley men. The buttle ac- 
complished results important to Lincoln County, wh„ch was 
scarcely habitable and at least not attractive for settlement so 
long as the "dog soldiers" remained unchecked. 

The battle of Heechers Island, on the Arickaree River, was 
the salvation of a large section of the country which mcluded 
Lincoln County, and it is only right to acknowledge the debt 
we owe to those who made the future development of our 
county possible and drove out the enemy that we mip,ht pos- 
sess the land. 

K E. Johnson had the fortunate habit in those days of keep- 
ing a diary. The following are some of the entries: 

"Tuesday, August 11. — Went on an Indian scout uIj to the 
head of Spillman Creek, rode about sixty miles. Got back 
at eleven o'clock at night, pretty well used up. The Indians 
had ravished two women and tried to burn one house." 

"Thursday, August. 13th. — Had another Indian scaie. The 
Indians came in eleven miles above here and commenced firing 



34 History of Lincoln County 

on the settlers, but luckily enough just then there was a party of 
soldiers coming over from Fort Harker and happened on the 
ground just as the Indians commenced firing, and gave chase.' 

Some authorities say this firing was done at the home of 
John Hendrickson, the blacksmith, who lived near Lincoln, 
where the soldiers were quartered, if so, they did not attack 
the place on the 8th. 

"Friday, August 14th.^ — Went up as far as Mr. Berry's last 
night and stayed till morning. The settlers kept coming in all 
night. Got breakfast and struck out on the trail and followed 
it about eight miles. Met some of the soldiers coming back; 
learned from them that they ran the Indians fifteen miles, and 
it came dark on them and they had to quit." 

"Saturday, August 15th. — Went up the Spillman Cieek to 
where the command was camped. The Colonel sent back to 
Fort Harker to know what he should do. Sent out si^outs to 
find the Indians. They came back at night, having fouud noth- 
ing of note. Boys elected me captain to take commanil of the 
citizens." 

The scouts Avere soon on their way west, but eignt of them 
were delayed at Fort Hays, by a mistaken order tmtil it was too 
late to meet General Forsyth at Fort Wallace, who, with fifty- 
one men besides himself, was soon pushing ahead into the heart 
of the enemy's country. Forsyth left Fort Wallace September 5, 
and followed the Indians trail till the afternoon of September 
16, when he camped, expecting to meet the Indians the next 
day. 

The Indians who were gathered in this region and It ad been 
retreating to get the scouts where they could easily annihilate 
them, planned a daylight surprise. They were in the Deauti- 
ful valley of the Arickaree and not far away was an island in 
the river. The attack was made the next morning before the 
light was clear. 

This little band of fifty-two men were surrounded by over a 
thousand warriors, who were armed with Springfield breech- 
loaders, Spencer and Henry rifles. Their successful cimpaign 
and ultimate victory over these skilled warriors, theif break- 
ing of the brilliant charge of Roman Nose, and their eii durance 
and courage during the terrible days and nights which followed 
form a chapter scarcely excelled in the annals of warfare the 
world over. 

Their first move was to retreat mounted to the little island 
where, after the first charge was repulsed, they threw up sand 
heaps and dug little trenches for defense. Charge aftei- charge 
was made upon them, but coolness and discipline battered the 



History of Lincoln County 35- 

ranks of the enemy, and won (he day. The most notable charge 
was the one lead by Roman Nose, the dog chief, who planned 
to ride right over the island, protected by the Indian sharp 
shooters, who were to engage the fire of the scouts. In this 
he was unsuccessful, as the scouts paid no attention to any- 
thing but the charging cavalry. Roman Nose was killed and 
his ranks badly shattered. Colonel Beecher, the man for whom 
the island was named, received his death wound during this 
charge. 

This was the last charge which amounted to anything. Eight 
days of the most intense suffering from wounds, from day's 
heat and night's cold, from the stench of the dead horses and 
the lack of food and attention followed before the rescue. 

Scouts sent out the first night succeeded in getting to Fort 
Wallace. Colonel Carpenter, who was in camp on Goose Creek, 
near the Kansas line, and with whose command the remain- 
ing scouts were at this time, was ordered to the relief. 

They reached Beecher's Island the morning of the ninth day. 
J. J. Peate, of Beverly, was the first one to reach his wounded 
companions. Half the men were either killed or woui ded. If 
there was anyone who deserved special praise it was Louis 
Farley, who saved the day by lying with two others near the 
edge of the island and killing Indians who were trying to creep 
up unseen and gain the island. He died of his wounda shortly 
afterward in a temporary hospital. 

Now for the results to the border country. Louis A. McLouth- 
lin, who was in the battle, and afterwards discussed the situation 
with the Indians, says: 

"The Indians told me they were concentrating for a grand 
raid, and at the full of the moon they intended to be in the 
settlements. They expected to have two thousand warriors, 
and they intended to spread out on both sides of the Republican 
and go east until troops drove them out." Spreadin§^ out as 
they do and covering a large territority, they would ha/e come 
into the Saline Valley, but this defeat at Beecher's Island set- 
tled the question of a raid. Besides seventy-five killed, there 
were a larger number wounded, and they were thrown into con- 
fusion and disheartened. 

The raid of May in which they had not lost a man had en- 
couraged them and prompted them to plan this larg£ expedi- 
tion, but now they were completely crushed. 



History of i^.ncoln County 



The Mulberry Scrap 

This is tlie name of an encounter wtiicii occurred tlie 2d of 
February. 1869, on the Mulberrj^ between the Indians on one 
side, and some Lincoln County settlers and soldieris on the 
other. Of course, the Indians got the worst of it as u^.ual, and 
this is how it happened: 

The Kaws from Council Bluffs, and the Pawnees from Ne- 
braska, used to pass back and forth and steal horses from each 
other. Sometimes they annoyed the settlers too much, to theii 
everlasting undoing. On the occasion of which we a.r£ speak- 
ing, a band of about a score of Pawnees were coming through 
the neighborhood, and stopping at Tom Skinner's home, com 
pelled Mrs. Skinner to cook for them. 

When the settlers heard of this they gathered togetner to 
see what had best be done. Several suggestions were made, 
but it was decided to go for the troops that were camped not 
far from the present site of Lincoln. John Alverson, Eli Zieg- 
ler, and Chal. Smith went. The captain told them to have the 
settlers ready by daybreak and he would have some soldiers 
there at that time. 

Accordingly, a lieutenant with about a dozen soldlfrs, took 
up the trail with the settlers the next morning. They followed 
the Indians to Table Rock Creek, where they found tht'r camp 
fire, and from there to Mulberry, where they o\eriooK Ihem. 
The Indians had stopped at the home of Chas. Martin to gel 
food and tobacco, but the advance scouts did not succeed in 
holding them until the main body of men came up. 

The red men scattered and the settlers began hunting them 
up and down the creek. Some of them went south across the 
stream to a high bluff. As they stood looking four Indians 
raised up side by side. They had discharges from tie army, 
and one of them handed his discharge to the whites. It was 
passed from one to another. While this was going on Alver- 
son, who was in the crowd, slipped off his horse and Dhot the 
Indian leader dead. The Indians began firing, and the troops 
soon appeared on the scene. There were two or three more 
Indians killed. 

The lieutenant wanted to take iliem to Fori Marker imd clvi- 



History of Lincoln County ■i^ 

lize lliem. Gen. Isaac ne(JialT sal down on the groiuid and 
also on the lieutenant's proposition, saying they cou.d nialte 
good Indian's of them right there. The men disniuunreo, and, 
leading their horses, followed the Indians down a ravine. The 
redslvins were shooting arrows, and one of them hit the lieu- 
tenant's horse, causing the animal to jerlt loose and got away. 
The lieutenant then said he would kill every Indian. They fol 
lowed the red men to a rocky gorge where sixteen of them 
took refuge in a cave. 

One of the soldiers wbo was not careful to keep out of range 
was shot by an Indian and died at Martin's house two hours 
later. Eli Ziegler sustained a slight wound. 

Finding no other way to get the Indians it was decided to 
throw hay into the mouth of the cave and tire it. Seeing what 
was about to be done the Indians dashed out of the ca\'e under 
a rain of shot. All but three were killed before they get out oi 
range. The men quickly mounted and persued the remnant. 
Richard Clark and Vollany Ball shot two of them at one hun- 
dred fifty yards range. The other was captured and (he lieu- 
tenant lool< him lo Fort Harker. 



Raid of 1869 



The battle of the Arickaree, or Heecher's Island stopped at 
least one great raid and relieved the people of the Saline and 
Spillman Valleys from the menace of the Dog Soldiers. Custer 
had settled Black Kettle and his tribe forever. Troops were 
stationed at different points within the present boundr? of the 
county, yet for the settlers the worst was yet to come. 

Referring to the soldiers it might be mentioned that a body 
of them were stationed at Schemerhorn's ranch south of Rocky 
Hill in 1868. The first Battalion of State troops under Captain 
Baker was stationed near the present site of Lincoln, some of 
them at the home of M. D. Green. 

State troops were encamped in the same place in 1S69. This 
was part of Company C of the 2d Battalion under Lieutenant H. 
H. Tucker. The headquarters of this encampment wa^ at the 
mouth of Lost Creek, west of where Christian College now 
stands. This was the place where John Hendrickson lived, 
and was attacked by the Indians in 1868. The place wiiere the 
log building stood can be found yet. The old pioneer louse, a 
piet 'ire ot which has been given, contains the logs of the main 



558 History of Lincoln County 

building. Ttiere were some dugouts and a corral. Abuut fifty- 
six men wer^ quarteded here in 1869. 

There was a third encampment near Pottersburg. (.'ompany 
A of the 2d Battalion, under Sapt. H. A. Pliley, occujjied the 
blockhouse, which was built in the bend of the creeh on the 
norih side of Spillman, just below the mouth of Bacon Creek. 
Jt was built after the raid of 1868, and was occupied by the 
troops that year and the next. It was burned in 1871 or 1872 
while unoccupied. 

it happened that in May of 1869 there were no troops at any 
of the above mentioned quarters and the Indians saw an op- 
portunity for a raid. This raid was probably the most horrible 
thing which ever happened to the settlers of this section of the 
country. 

It has been impossible to ascertain what tribe of Indians 
made the raid. The Cheyennes get the blame for II, but it 
seems probable that the Dog Soldiers and Sioux we/e there 
also, as the captives were held by the Sioux and wer ? in the 
tent of the Sioux chief Tall Bull when rescued. Although Tall 
Bull was a Sioux, his band was in part made up of outlaw 
Cheyennes. 

This raid occurred on Sunday, May 31st. The Indians 
came without warning, and caught the settlers off theif guard 

Eli Ziegler and John Alverson, going up Spillman Creek to 
a claim, saw what they thought to be a body of soldiens, which 
really was Indians in blue blouses, marching four abreast. 
They escaped by driving to the nearest timber and gai ling the 
shelter of the banks of the stream. The Indians attacked the 
settlement of Danes, near the mouth of Trail Creek, killing 
Lawritzen and his wife. A young man named Peterson, who 
was staking oft" a claim, was killed and his face mutilated with 
a hatchet. Mr. and Mrs. Wichel and their friend Mayershoff 
were walking over their claim about '.i v. .m. when they were 
attacked by the Indians. The men defended Mrs. Wichel un- 
til their powder was all gone, when they were killed and she 
was captured. 

During the fight they advanced considerable distance down 
the valley and were a mile and a half west of Lincoln when 
the tragedy occurred. They were Germans of Hanovei . They 
were buried where they met death. 

On the same evening Mrs. Alderdice was visiting Mrs. Kline, 
a mile and a half west of Lincoln. The two women, Mrs. Aider- 
dice with four children, and Mrs. Kline, with one, started down 
the river to seek safety. In crossing a strip of prairie two 
Indians were seen. Mrs. Kline crossed the river, which was up 



History of Lincoln County 39 

to her shoulders, with her child. Mrs. Alderdice, overcome with 
terror, sat down on the ground, as she could not esctpe with 
her children. The Indians shot the three little boys killing 
two and leaving the third wounded in the back. They took Mrs. 
Alderdice and her child and camped that night on Bullfoot 
Creek, where they choked the child to death, and hung it to a 
tree. 

The same evening Harrison Strange, aged fourteen, and a 
thirteen-year-old boy named Schmutz, who were about a thou- 
sand yards southeast of Lincoln, saw two Indians riding toward 
them. The old Indian made friends with them by saying "Good 
Pawnee," and calmed their fea,rs by tapping them gentl/ with a 
spear. The young stripling rode up, raising himself high in 
his stirrups and hit young Strange a blow with a club. The 
lad saw the blow coming and with the words "Oh, Lord," half 
expressed he fell dead. 

The club was broken. Sciimutz ran, but was shot with an 
arrow. It lodged in his side. He pulled it out, but the barbed 
end remained. Young Strange's two brothers came to the re- 
lief and Schmutz was taken to Fort Harker, where ten weeks 
later he died in a hospital. 

The next day a posse found the dead and wounded of Mrs. 
Alderdice's boys. The live child had an arrow in his back. 
The arrow was drawn by Phil Lance and Washingtca Smith 
with a large pair of bullet moulds, and he recovere(!r at the 
home of Wm. Hendrickson. The two captured women, Mrs. 
Wichel and Mrs. Alderdice, were unable to plan an escape be- 
cause one talked German, the other English. 

Mrs. Wichel was about 20 and Mrs. Alderdice about 28. Both 
were beautiful, refined women. 

The VVichels were brewers of Hanover, and were quite 
wealthy. It is reported that Mrs. Wichel had forty silk dresses. 
They had quantities of tine linen and other elegant h\)Usehold 
goods. They were both well educated and refined people 
Wichel was about thirty. All the Germans were kiljea, and 
only ihree Danes survived. They also plundered and stole 
among others things, $1,.500 in money from Wichels, belonging 
to ^Irs. Wichel's father. 

The escape of Mrs. Kline was almost miraculous. She hid 
for a time in a clump of dogwood. The Indians, in their search, 
walked around and around her so near that she could have put 
out her hand and touched them. She could see theii mocca- 
sins, but fortunately they did not see her. Her baby was awake 
but kept very quiet, though i1 smiled, as it was \ina\vaie of the 



40 History of Lincoln County 

danger. This child grew up and lives at the present time in 
Lincoln. Her name is Mrs. Linker. 

The next day (Monday, June 1), Mr. Alderdice, with a few 
neighbors, including Myron Green and Martin Hendrickson, 
were searching for Mrs. Alderdice. After dark they came upon 
VVm. Karl and learned that a party of Saline Valley laen had 
been surprised by the Indians at their hunter's camp beyond 
Wolf Creek the Saturday before. It was a rainy day, and the 
men were at the camp when the Indians came. They all 
jumped into the brush for shelter. Sol Humbarger was wound- 
ed. They kept in the brush and made their way to the third 
branch of Wolf Creek, where Earl left Humbarger with Dick 
Alley and Harry Trask, while he came on for help. He had not 
eaten anything for two days. 

Myron Green started at once for Salina, and the cext day 
came back with a number of volunteers to the rescue, About 
five that evening a party of twenty started out to find Hum- 
barger. They camped on the Spillman that night. Wednesday 
noon they met a crowd from the Colorado neighborhood who 
had already rescued the hunting party. "Jack" Peate and Day- 
hoff were among the number. Humbarger had been wounded 
in the hip with an arrow. 

For some days after the raid the settlers kept indoortj, as they 
were afraid to go abroad even to get food. When Harrison 
Strange was buried the whole funeral procession was armed. 
The funeral was at Wm. Hendrickson's, and the cemetery was 
on the Schemerhorn place, south of the river. When the body 
was lowered into the grave and the ceremony over, a buffalo 
was seen coming from the south. Those who had guns gave 
chase, killed the animal, and divided the meat among the set- 
tlers. The neighborhood was found to be short of ammunition, 
and Phil Lantz rode to Salina and back seventy-two niles in 
one day, bringing with him six Spencer carbines and a large 
amount of ammunition. 

After the raid the Indians retreated with their captives and 
plunder to their village on the sand hills between th » Platte 
and Frenchman Creek, whither they were followed by General 
Carr, the same summer. 

While on the Republican River General Carr struck a large 
lindian trail which had been freshly traveled. At eacU recent 
camping place there was the print of a woman's stoe. An 
article entitled "The Adventure of Ma.i. Frank North," bv Alfred 
Sorenson, in the Nebraska Historical Collections, give:< an ac- 
count of the recapture of the women. 

It is from his article and from letters by Hercules H. Price, 



History of Lincoln County -11 

who was with General Carr that this account of the recapture 
is compiled. 

As General Carr, wiili Major North and his Pawnee scouts 
were pushing on north they came across a bit of torn dress, 
and later found a note saying. 'Tor (rod's sake, come and rescue 
us." 

Detachments of the best mounted men from the five compan- 
ies were selected for a forced march. The wagon trains were 
left to follow. The next morning, July 11, an Indian village 
was sighted near the valley of the South Platte. After a care- 
ful survey it was decided to attack from the north. However, 
while making the circuit described by Major North, the com- 
mand keeping a mile and a half from the village, and swinging 
around the east side, General Carr became afraid that they 
had been observed by the Indians, and ordered a charge. 

The Indians, lazy with feasting, and satisfied with booty, 
were resting in the shade of their tents, and were taken com- 
pletely by surprise. The charge of the cavalry threw every- 
thing into instant confusion. The village was admiralily situ- 
ated for a defense had it not been too late. 

As the cavalry came riding down the streets of the village, 
firing volley after volley, the Indians fled in all directions to 
ravines and rocks. Their ponies were grazing on the prairie,, 
but very few succeeded in reaching them. The soldiers l:*gan 
hunting them down in their hiding places and slaughtering 
them on every hand. Tall Bull, with his squaw and ciiild and 
eighteen warriors were surrounded in a narrow ravine. He and 
his followers were all killed and the squaw and child was taken 
captive. 

Meanwhile an active search for the white captives under 
Captain Gushing had resulted in finding Mrs. Alderdice und Mrs. 
VVichel, both badly wounded, in the tent of Tall Bull, (vho had 
taken them as wives. Seeing it was impossible to keep them 
longer he had shot them. Mrs. Alderdice was lying on the 
ground unconscious, and just as Major North came in «vith the 
captive squaw and child of Tall Hull, .Mrs. Alderdice drew one 
or two long breaths and died. 

Mrs. Wichel was sitting on a mat conscious and suffering 
intensely from her wound. She wept for joy at the sight of 
the white men. After soldiers and Pawnees had finished with 
the Sioux her wounds were tended and she was made comfor- 
table as possible. Nine hundred dollars of the money was re- 
covered and returned to Mrs. Wichel. Her gold watch and some 
other things were also recovered. The village, which v.^as rich 
in Indian property and booty taken from the whites, was plun- 



42 History of Lincoln County 

dered and burned. The place was called Susannah, which was 
the Christian name of Mrs. Alderdice. She was buried on the 
battleground. 

The suffering of these two women and their cruel treatment 
is a pathetic and shameful story which we will not go into in 
detail. During the absence of Tall Bull they were beaten by 
his squaw through jealousy. The women were not allowed to 
see each other above half a dozen times during their captivity. 

Mrs. Wichel married later, but it is not definitely known at 
this time whether it was a soldier, a blacksmith, or an army 
surgeon. 

This was the end of the Indian troubles so far as this section 
of ihe country was concerned. The Sioux were crippled as the 
Dog Soldiers and Black Kettle's followers had been the year 
before. Indians were seldom seen in Lincoln County after that, 
although it is plain from the attitude of the early newspaper 
that the people took a keen interest in the warfare against 
them in other places, and favored the extermination of th* 
Modocs. 

In 187o a party of Indians with their squaws, were seen on 
the Elkhorn. They were advised to move on, and did so. The 
last Indian seen in bands in this vicinity was in 1879 or 1880. 



History of Lincoln County 



43 



County Organization 



The second epoch of Lincoln County history begins with its 
organization into a county in 1870. In spite of the drawbacks 
and dangers of pioneer lite, in spite of the fact that Kansas had 
not yet out-grown her reputation for being a desert place with 
hot winds, and the fact that our county was at that time open 
frontier, exposed to hostile Indians, in spite of famine, flame, 




Ruins of John S. Strange's House Showing Fireplace by Which 
the First Commissioners Sat. 



malaria and fever, people came, and kept coming. The valleys 
filled with settlers, and the hills with herds, till four years after 
the first claim was staked, there were five hundred and sixteen 
people here. 

The Legislature defined the boundaries of Lincoln County in 
1867, and it was first a township of Ottawa and later of Saline 
County. A petition headed by Tom Boyle, Martin Hendrlck- 
son, Geo. Green, H. J. Wisner, and Isaac DeGraff, asking for 
separate county organization, was sent to Topeka. 

Governor J as. M. Harvey proclaimed separate county organ- 
ization and established a temporary county seat on the north' 
west quarter of section 35, township 11, range 8, about wheri 
Lincoln Center now stands. He appointed temporary officers as 
follows: Isaac DeGraff, Washington Smith, and John S. 



44 History of Lincoln County 

Strange, County Commissioners, and F. A. Schermerhorn county 
clerk, on October 4, 1870, and on October 6, the Commissioners 
met at the house of Jno. S. Strange. 

They named the county Lincoln in honor of Abraham Lin- 
coln, and divided it into four townships, Colorado, Elkhorn, Salt 
Creek, Indiana. They also turned down a petition to have the 
county seat moved three miles east and one-half mile south of 
where it was. This was near the place which afterwards be- 
came the Abram townsite. The petition was headed by M. D. 
Green, Dick Clark, .Jacob Harshbarger. and Harmon Kingsley. 



County Seat Contest 



Few counties have managed to get along without a county 
seat contest, and this was the beginning of the one in Lincoln. 
The election in November resulted as follows: Representative, 
L C. Buzlck; Commissioners, Cornelious Dietz, Jas. Wild, .John 
S. Strange; County Clerk, A. S. Potter; Treasurer, Vollany 
Ball; Probate Judge, D. C. Skinner: Register of Deeds, T. A. 
Walls: Sheriff, R. B. Clark; Coroner, Francis Seiber; County 
Attorney, iMyron Green; District Clerk, .1. A. Cook; Surveyor, 
P. Lowe. This was a victory for those in favor of changing the 
county seat, so it was picked up bodily and taken over the hill, 
where, in order to make business legal, the county officers met 
and organized court on the bare and bleak townsite of Abram 
one cold January day in 1871. They then adjourned to the 
house of Ezra Hubbard, where the new County Commissioners 
met in February, 1871. A license to sell liquor was granted, 
Mr. Strange casting his vote against it. Three petitions for 
county roads were accepted. The first was to run from section 
12, on the east line of the county, to the county seat, the second 
from Pottersburg to the county seat, and the third was to begin 
between section 24 and 25, on the east line of the county, 
and go to Elkhorn Creek, and thence to a point about a half 
mile west of Twin Groves, corner of section 28. The clerk was 
instructed to procure seals for the Probate Judge and Register 
of Deeds, and advertise for proposals to build a court house. 
The bids were to be filed in the clerk's office up to 12 m. on 
Saturday, April 1, and the court house was to be completed by 
.July 1. In March, 1871, the Legislature provided for court in 
ivincoln County. .Jas. H. Canfield, of .Junction City, judge of the 



History of Lincoln County 



45 



bJigmli district, piesided over court on .\oveml)er tith of the 
same year. 

The buildings wore pul up tlic next summer. The county 
eft'ects were housed in the upstairs of .Myron Green's store. A 
frame building 2r)Xt;o feet. Counly Clerk A. S. Potter had to 
issue the license to sell licpior which had been granted to Fred 
Buckner and John Cleary, and is mad yet because he had to. 

Two petitions were hied with the C'immissioners that year 
to hold another election on tlu^ county seat proposition. Botli 
were rejected in .June. There was considerable agitation a' 
this time about this question, and a tragic affair occurred wiiich 
really settled the counry seat tight. 

Ezra Hubbard was building a mil! at Rocky Hill. Bad blood 
had come to exist between liim and the Haleys, who wanted to 
drive him off his claim. Tliey annoyed him a great deal, some- 
times coming at night and tearing down the building. At one 
time John Haley burned one of Hubbard's freight wagons. The 
latter suspected Haley of stealing logs from his timber land, 
so on one occasion, when he and his son-in-law, John Cook, went 
with their teams to haul logs, Hubbard took his cai'bine with 
him to stop Haley from trespassing. 

Haley was on the Hubbard property, and when the men were 
about to hitch to a certain log he claimed it, saying that it had 
floated onto Hubbard's place from his. A quarrel arose and 
Hubbard shot Haley. 




House in Which Hubbard Was Mobbed. 



46 



History of Lincoln County 



After the shooting Hubbard managed to get away from 
Haley's friends and gave himself up. He was at first put in 
the store building at Abram, and later confined in a building 
used for a boarding house. Cook was arrested and kept with 
him. 

This building has since been moved to Lincoln, and is now 
occupied by John Kyle's tin shop. Sheriff Medcalf appointed four 
of Hubbard's worst enemies to guard the prisoners, refusing all 
other help that was offered. As no two persons exactly agree 




The Hubbard Mill. 



on the names of these guards, we are not sure that we are 
absolutely correct in the matter, but it seems most likely that 
they were John Lyden, ('has. Wilson, John Ryan, and Tim 
Murphy. 

John Lyden did his best to protect the two prisoners, but 
to no avail. A mob of forty men, in all degrees of intoxica- 
tion, took the place. They first shot at Hubbard through the 
window and later entered the building and shot again. Suffer- 
ing from nine wounds the old man crept up the cleats on the 
wall to the loft. Later in the night some members of the mob 
beat out his brains with a carpenter's mallet. Cook escaped. 

Several parties, including all of the guards, were arrested, 
but none were brought to trial except Ira Buzick. He was ac- 



History of Lincoln County 



47 



quitted. This trial cost the coanty $10,000, and, of course, peo- 
ple grumbled and blamed the otHcers for not keeping such dis- 
turbances down. 

Hubbard's body was taken to Salina for burial. Those who 
escorted the body were well armed, but then, nobody was con- 
sidered dressed in those days unless he was sufficiently armed 
to take care of himself. Thomas Bennett bought the mill. This 
is the way it looked in process of building. 

Mob violence was used as an argument for changing the lo- 
cation of the county seat. On February 19, 1872, an election was 
held at which 408 votes were cast. Lincoln Center received 
232 and Abram 176. 

The triumphant Lincolnites then loaded Abram on wheels 
and brought it along with the county's archives to Lincoln. 
All the buildings were moved. Abram was not allowed to die a 
natural death, but was given the distinguishing honor of being 
translated while yet in the body. 

A building was erected for a newspaper by a deaf and dumb 
man, but only two issues of the paper came out. 

This building, which was 10x22 feet, was later moved to Lin- 
coln, and became the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Anna C. Wait. 
Mrs. Wait taught Lincoln's first school in it, and it is now used 
for a shoeshop. 




BUILDING THE COURT HOUSE. 
In 187o the county headquarters was in the upstairs of the 
Webster building. The rent on this upper room was $300 per 
year. 



48 



History of Lincoln County 



April 1st of this year bonds to the amount of $4,000 were 
voted for building a court house. There was much opposition 
to these bonds, and after the blanks for the bonds had been 
ordered. County Clerk A. S. Potter was warned that an in- 
junction would be served on him to prevent his signing them. 
Accordingly the blanks were taken from the express office at 
Salina by another man so that County Attorney Beatty would 
not know they had come. They were privately handed to Mr. 
Potter, who, with John S. Strange, retired after night to the 
lonely habitation of Tom i\Ialoue, northwest of Lincoln, where 
they each signed their names one hundred and seventy-six 
times to bonds and coupons. The bonds were not sold for face 
value, but the balance of three hundred dollars was made up by 
private subscription. The court house, which was built at 
that time, was burned in 1898. The present fine building 
shown in the picture was then built, and dedicated in 1900. 




History of Lincoln County 49 

THE GRASSHOPPERS. 

This brings us down to a famous period in the annals of 
Kansas — 1874 — "grasshopper year." In the diary of E. E'. John- 
son is an account of the grasshoppers in August, 1868. They 
came from the north, commenced at the edge of his corn field 
and cleaned it as they went. But in 1874 they made their big 
raid through Kansas and did not slight Lincoln County. It 
made times extremely hard everywhere, especially for the new 
settlers who had nothing but their crops. 

The Government sent out some blankets and army overcoats 
and for many years afterward the grasshopper sufferer could be 
picked out of a crowd by his coat. Relief was also sent out 
by private parties in the East. Many people were left abso- 
lutely destitute and the township trustees spent the winter dis- 
ributing supplies. Not a green leaf was left. Everyhing was 
eaten up but castor beans. The grasshoppers drew the line here 
as does the small boy. 

THE LYDEN MURDER. 

The next year a very mysterious murder occurred. A well 
educated and cultured Irishman, John Lyden by name, who had 
been one of the armed guards placed over Ezra Hubbard, was 
the victim of foul play, the full secret of which will probably 
never be unearthed. The facts so far as they developed at 
the time are as follows: John Lyden, a wealthy stock owner 
of the Elkhorn was shot as he sat at breakfast one morning, by 
an unknown party, the shot being fired from under the table. 
The body was hid under the bed all day and at night taken in 
a wagon to the vacated home of Dr. Seiber, who had built one 
of the finest houses in the county and later left it. Here the 
body was thrown into the well, the house was burned down 
and some of he charred timbers thrown into the well. The 
body remained in the well about a month before it was discov- 
ered. In the meantime a young man by the name of Millard 
Eaton who was working for Lyden at the time rounded up his 
cattle, drove them to Ellsworth and shipped them to John 
Lyden , at Kansas City. Eaton went to Kansas City and re- 
turned by way of Salina, leaving $1,000 in a box with a certain 
doctor there. He went out home and had a big party and 
seemed to have plenty of money to spend. By this time people 
began to wonder what had become of Lyden. Eaton then came 
to Lincoln Center on Sunday. 

A certain already notoriously l)ad character attracted sus- 
picion to himself by driving from Salina to Lincoln in two and 



History of Lincoln County 



a half hours, and taking Millard Eaton away with him, at'tor 
which Katon was seen no more in I^incoln, but rumor had it 
that he was seen in Kentucky by the Lincoln County sheriff 
who went there ostensibly to bring him back, which he did not 
do. All sorts of surmises and rumors were current but the 
incident was closed without any one being bright to trial. 

After Baton disappeared a searching party comprised of F. 
A. Schermerhorn, Tone Bishop, Wells, and Grubo found the 
body in the well. Mr. Bishop climbed into the well and saw 
blood on the side of it. The body was under water. Some of 
the citizens employed a private attorney to look into the matter. 
Several parties were suspected of being implicated. It was 
not supposed that Eaton did the shooting himself but seems 
probable that he was there wiien it was done. 

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT. 

It is a relief to turn from the above tragic facts to something 
more agreeable. Lincoln County was en.1oying continual growth 
and prosperity. In 1873 there were five hundred families or 
about 2,500 people. Stone buildings, bridges, mills, and other 
improvements were being built. A fine new school house the 
best this side of Junction City was put up in 1872. 

The next year the Rees Mill was built. It is still one of the 
most beautiful spots around Lincoln Center. 




It was buiii by Elias Rees and after his death was operated 
by his son, 1^. J. Rees, who is the present owner. At present 
.Mr. T. F. Brann and Mr. Howard Rees operate it. 



History of Lincoln County 51 

In this same year a six tool vein of coal was found a mile 
from Lincoln Center. There were also coal mines in the Elk- 
horn and Spillman, the vein being 314 feet thick. A vein 3 
feet thick was discovered underlying the whole Danish settle- 
ment. Twenty-tive men were employed in the Spillman mines 
and more were being put in as fast as room could be made. This 
coal was worth $3.50 to $3.75 per ton at the mines. Lincoln 
had great prospects for a mining country. For further discus- 
sion read the article on "'xeology" in another part of the book. 

PRAIRIE FIRES. 

Lincoln County has had prairie fires, cyclones, and floods 
which brought more or less disaster with each visitation. 

The first big fire on record was in 1871. The fire originated 
on the railroad track near Fort Marker, and came into Lincoln 
County from the south. It burned up ranges and destroyed 
many thousand head of cattle. No lives were Iost| The most 
disastrous fire was in March, 1879, when the northwestern 
townships were burned over. Three deaths occurred about a 
mile north of where Prairie Grove Church now stands. The 
victims were Kobt. Afontgomery and his fourteen-year-old son, 
Robert, and Isaac Pfaff. These men were caught out on the 
prairie and overtaken by the fianies. The Montgomery home 
was also destroyed. 

RAILROAD HISTORY. 

The population in 1880 was 8,572. The work of organizing 
townships which had been in progress since 1875 was finished 
about this time and the county was redistricted as follows: 

F'irst District, Indiana, Valley, Franklin, Colorado, and Mad- 
ison; Second District, Marion, Beaver, Salt Creek, Logan, Scott, 
and Battle Creek; Third District, Orange, Cedron, Grant, Pleas- 
ant, Highland, and Golden Belt. 

It was "about this time that railroad agitation began. The 
Topeka, Salina and Great Western organized in 1880, and se- 
cured a right of way in Lincoln County in 1881, without oppo- 
sition. Then the Kansas Central put up a good talk and wanted 
$60,000 for a narrow guage. Later the Kansas Central was ab- 
sorbed into the Union Pacific. 

The Union Pacific had surveyed a Saline Valley route in 
1866, when Junction City was the terminus of the Kansas Pa- 
cific, but when the Union Pacific became a candidate for Gov- 
ernment subsidies its projects naturally took the route along 



History of Lincoln County 



the Smoky Hill, which was the old "Pikes Peak" trial and along 
which were the military posts of Fort Harker, Fort Hays, and 
i<ort Wallace. Not until compelled to do so for fear of other 
roads did the Union Pacific build the Saline Valley branch. In 
spite of five years of dally expectance of a railroad, in 1885 
the people of Lincoln County were still hauling their grains 
to Salina and l^JUsworth and hauling back their goods in wag- 
ons. In October of that year aid was voted by the county and 
in 1886 a branch of the Union Pacific, called the Salina, Lin- 
coln and Western reached Lincoln Center. The road is now 
called Salina and Oakley. 



The Cleary Case 



in the morning of January 3, 1888, the community was thrown 
Into great excitement over the killing of Jesse Turner by a 
neighbor Pat Cleary. The two men had quarreled over a drink- 
ing place where both wished to water stock, and as Turner was 
driving his stock to water Cleary shot him. He then came to 
town, gave himself up and claimed he did it in self defense. 
Coroner De Armond summoned a jury and repaired with the 
sheriff to the scene of the shooting. The facts as they appeared 
to this jury did not support Cleary's plea of self defense. He 
was tried, found guilty of murder in the second degree, and 
sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. After serving a few 
months of this term a new trial was granted by the supreme 
court. Accordingly Pat was brought back to Lincoln. A jury 
was impaneled and the trial begun May 16, 1889. The State 
made out even a better case than it had before but from some 
words which were let drop from time to time, the public was 
not sure that Cleary would be convicted. The jury was sent 
out Wednesday, May 30. They wore able to come to no agree- 
ment and by Friday the citizens began to think that some one 
•or two men were persistently voting for acquittal. Saturday 
night the jury was sent out until the judge should ask for their 
report. The people had now become convinced that the jury 
was "spiked." Sunday night there were open threats of lynch- 
ing, and an extra guard was placed over the jury room. Mon- 
day morning the jury was still unable to agree and they were 
discharged. 

Cleary might have gone free now for anything the State 



History of Lincoln County 



could have done foi a change of venue can not be taken in 
criminal cases, and another lawful jury could not have been 
secured in the county. 

But as soon as the jury was discharged the prisoner through 
his attorney, Ira C. Buzick, entered a plea of manslaughter in 
the third degree and was sentenced by the judge to three years 
imprisonment, which is the maximum punishment for that de- 
gree of crime. 

As soon as it became known that one man had persistently 
voted for acquittal the wrath of the citizens burned higher and 
higher. J. P. Harmon, who voted for acquittal, was intercepted 
by an unorganized mob on the street, who demanded to know 
why he hung the jury. He placed himself under the protection 
of the sheriff and was taken to the court house for safety. All 
day long hundreds of men from all over Ellsworth and Lincoln 
Counties, who knew Cleary and believed the ends of justice had 
been defeated and the law made a travesty, poured into Lin- 
coln. It is believed that Cleary had attempted to kill John 
Lyden and that he killed his brother-in-law, Cornelius Deits. 
Other stories of his vengeful and bloodthirsty nature were 
afloat. The jurors and those who had testified against him in 
the two trials were especially alarmed lest when he would final- 
ly be released he would get his revenge. 

The mob filled the court house square and demanded that J. 
P. Harmon show himself and be catechised. He came to the 
window and gave his reasons but his answer failed to satisfy 
the crowd. 

There was nothing to do now but wait for night. It was said 
that a guard was stationed every fifty feet in Lincoln to pre- 
vent any possible escape of the prisoner. Toward night the 
excitement was so tense as to be felt in the atmosphere. Com- 
paratively few people v/ere seen on the streets at dark and 
shortly afterward Harmon escaped by the back of the court 
house. Sheriff Boyle placed guards over the prisoner and about 
nine o'clock went home leaving the door unlocked. Soon after 
the sheriff was gone Cleary took a hatchet from the stove and 
made a desperate attempt to escape. Several shots rang out 
as he ran across the court house yard. He was captured in the 
wire fence at the northwest corner of the square. One shot 
had taken effect in his left side. In course of the short trial 
given him before his execution he is said to have confessed to 
killing three men and trying to kill two more but said it was in 
self defense. He was taken down to the Fourth Street bridge. 
A new rope provided for the occasion was tied around his neck 



54 History of Lincoln County 

and he was dropped off ihe bridge and fell fifteen and a half 
feet. 

There were some three or four hundred men in the crowd 
and it was the verdict of ninety-tive per cent of the people that 
it was the only thing to do under the circumstances. It loolts 
like a brutal thing to drag a fatally wounded man to the bridge 
and hang him, but once into the business the lynchers could 
not afford to Quit till the 30b was finished. 

The sequel to the Cleary case was a libel suit for $10,000 
damages brought against Anna ('. and W. S. Wait, proprietors 
of the Beacon, by Jeary Moler, of Salina, one of Cleary's at- 
torneys. This gentleman came near being lynched with his 
client, and he was warned never to come to Lincoln County 
again. The Beacon had remarKed concerning Moler's conduct 
of the (-leary case that he was an all round villain. Mr. Wait 
charged him with "fixing" the jury. A short time afterward, 
on complaint of Moler, Wait was secretly arrested and conveyed 
to Salina at once. It was feared that if the news of his arrest 
became public it would be impossible to take :\ir. Wait fioni 
Lincoln as' the people would demand that he be tried in his 
own covmty. 

On learning of the arrest the people were very indignant. 
When the train came in that evening Mr. Wait was met by 
hundreds of citizens in buggies, in wagons, and afoot. Business 
was suspended for the time being. A subscription had been 
already started 10 pay the costs of the trial. Mr. Wait was 
taken to the center of the town and asked to make a speech 
telling the public all about the days experience in Salina. The 
trial had been set for October. 

The Republican of Sunday, October 27, 1889, contains an ac- 
count of the trial in v/hich it is spoken of as the most noted 
trial ever held in Saline County. The affair stirred up Lincoln 
to the depths as nothing had for years and the people stood by 
Mr. Wait, regardless of party or personal affairs. 

'i"he case was widely comanentei! on ))> tlic piess over the 
State and in other States, these comments all favoring the de- 
fense. Had he been tried at home be would have undoubtedly 
been acquitted in the first trial. But Saline County was t'livided. 
The jurors were all farmers and at the end of seventeen hours 
they stood equally divided. On being told that they absolutely 
must agree ihey returned a verdict of guilty with a recom- 
mendation of jiominal i)unishment. Mi-. Moler made a speech 
recommending light punishment and .Mr. Wait was fined $10. 
and court costs amounting, to $f500. An appeal was taken and 
granted. 



History of Lincoln County 55 

The supreme court reversed the decision of the lower couri 
and Mr. Wait was acquitted. The General Statutes of Kansas 
for 1897 contained the followina; decision concerning this case- 

"A part of an alleged libelous article was that the person 
alleged to be libeled who was an attorney-at-law assisting in tho 
defense in a criminal prosecution for murder, had at the time 
no possible hope of being able to clear his client with a fair 
jury but his only hope lay in a packed jury and that his man- 
ner of conducting" the trial showed that he relied upon hanging 
the jury by a 'fixed man,' or in other word by a bribed juror 
and after evidence has been introduced tending to prove these 
matters the defendant has the right to show that one of the 
jurors was 'fixed' or bribed; that he did in fact hang the jury; 
and the defendant has a right to show the conduct of said juror 
in the jury room, while the jury was deliberating on their ver- 
dict, and what said juror then and there did, and what he omit- 
ted to say and do, how he voted and how the other members of 
the jui-y voted." (State vs. Wait, 44 K. 310.) 

Ill beginning this work it was not the intention to lay stress 
on the crminal history of Lincoln County, but since three mur- 
ders have already been extensively written up it seems best 
since one man's life is as important as another's to at least 
mention the other murders. 

In 1882 a farmer by the name of Wheeler was shot from the 
back of his, wagon as he was driving home from town one night. 
A stranger was arrested for the murder but later broke jail and 
escaped. 

Wesley Faulk, a single man, was killed at night by unknown 
parties. No arrests were made. 

Mike Haley, brother to the Haley killed by Ezra Hubbard, 
killed his nephew, a young man by the name of Barrett. He 
was tried and acquitted on the grounds of self-defense. The 
killing was done in Haley's house. 

".Jack" Peate says that if you are going to point out the places 
in Lincoln County where people have been killed that it will be a 
long job, as violent deaths have occurred on nearly every acre 
of it. 

So I think we will stop here and discuss something else. 



5« 



History of Lincoln CouiJy 



On the Roll of Honor 



The following men represented Lincoln County in the State 
Legislature in the years indicated: 

1872, F. A. Schemerhorn; 1873, Geo. Green; 1874, Vollany 
Ball; 1875, Jas. B. Goff; 1876, E. S. Pierce; 1877, Reuben Wil- 
liams; 1879, W. S. Wait; 1883 to 1886, R. P. Bryant; 1887, also 
1889, J. D. Miller; 1891 and 1893, A. N. Whittington; 1895 and 
1897, J. J. Lambert; 1899, Arthur J. Stanley; 1901, F. G. Dun- 
ham; 1903, J. D. Miller on resignation of D. E'. Books; 1905 to 
present time, E. T. Skinner. 

Ira C. Buzick was the first Representative, also State Senator 
in 1881. Geo. W. Anderson was also a representative from Lin- 
coln County. In 1895 A. P. Gilpin was Journal Clerk at the 
State House. He held this office two terms. William Baker, of 
Lincon, was a Congressman and repreesnted the Sixth District 
in Washington. D. C. 




HON. E. T. SKINNER, 

Representative from 
Lincoln County, 

\\ lio secured an appro- 
priation for the Beech- 
er's Island monument. 
He belongs to one of 
the oldest and best 
families in the county, 
his people having mov- 
ed here in 1866. His 
mother was the first 
school teacher in Lin- 
coln County and his un- 
cle, D. C. Skinner, was 
one of the Forsyrh 
scouts. 



History of Lincoln County 




A. J. STANLEY, 

County Superintendent 
of Schools, 

The man who made 
Lincoln County famous. 
Born and raised here. 
Went to the Legisla- 
ture and helped make 
laws while still in knee 
pants. 

As County Superin- 
tendent of Schools he 
introduced the study of 
agriculture. Helpe'd re- 
vise the school laws. 
The fact that he once 
lived at Colbert could 
not keep a good man 
down. 



ARTHUR ARTMAN, 

Probate Judge. 

His title should be 
"The Marrying Judge," 
or "The Lightning 
Knot-Tier." He was 
born and raised in New 
York State at Hunter. 
Came to Kansas in 
1879. Taught school 
for a number of years. 
Elected to his presen*^ 
office in 1902. He ha? 
married a great many 
people and everybody 
that he married voted 
for him, so he will 
probably be there as 
long as he wants to 
stay. 




58 



History of Lincoln County 




J. W. MEEK, 
Clerk of the District 
Court. 
Here is a man witii 
some real history. Born 
in Meigs County, Ohio, 
November 2, 1841. En- 
listed in Company E, 
75th Ohio Volunteers in 
1862. Taken prisoner 
at the Battle of Gaines- 
ville, Florida, August 
17, 1864. and was in 
Andersonville and Flor- 
ence prisons until Feb- 
ruary 26, 1865. Came 
to Lincoln County, Kan- 
sas, in 1879, and took a 
homestead. Elected 
County Clerk in 188!!, 
and served four years. 



GEO. E. HUTCHISON, 

Register of Deeds. 

He was born in Mis- 
souri, but please don't 
hold that against him, 
for he has been in Lin- 
coln County long 
enough to be an old 
settler, and has lived it 
down. Came to Kan- 
sas at the age of eight 
and his home was at 
Beloit till he came 
here. ^Ir. Hutchison is 
one of the jolly men ot 
the court house crowd, 
and has plenty of 
friends. 




Histoiy of Lincoln Comity 



59 




S. H. BRUNT, 
County Surveyor. 
Born and raised in 
Iowa. Took a special 
course in surveying in 
Gi'and Island, Neb. Be- 
came a government 
surveyor and surveyed 
tlirougli W y o m i n k, 
Colorado, and New 
.Mexico. Came to Lin- 
coln County and served 
a number of terms as 
deputy County Survey- 
or, and was appointed 
to fill a vacancy. Has 
been elected four times 
since. As there is no; 
much surveying to do 
Air. Brunt makes ab- 
stracting his main busi- 
ness. 



W. H. TAYLOR, 

County Commissionc-. 

One of the Barons of 
the Spillman. fie lives 
in one of the finest 
homes of the county. 
He is giving eminent 
satisfaction in his oftic' 
as the people of th" 
west side consider he 
has done more for them 
1han any other ma'.i 
they have had. He is 
the good looker among 
the county officeis. 
Tliis picture does not 
do him justice. 




60 



History of Lincoln County 




S. H. LONG, 

County Commissioner. 

He is a Democrat, 
but the Democrats are 
a majority on the 
Board of Commission- 
ers, so it is all right. 
He was born in Penn- 
sylvania in 1850, and 
came to Lincoln Coun- 
ty, Kansas, in 1878, ami 
engaged in farming. 
His home is on his fine 
farm not far from Lin- 
coln. He was elected 
to otTice four years ago. 



C. H. BERRY, 

County Commissioner. 

Born in England in 
1859. Came to Lincoln 
County, Kansas, in 
1872. His business and 
official career is as fol- 
lows: Farmer thirteen 
years, merchant ten 
years, auctioneer a 
number of years, city 
councilman, deputy 
sheriff and county com- 
missioner. He is small- 
er than the other two 
commissioners, but he 
can hold is own ami 
ably represents the 
Frist Distrct. 




History of Lincoln County 



61 



Here is wliere the 
other county otlicers 
disappeared when they 
saw us coming after 
their pictures for this 
book. They'll never 
come back any more; 
they're dead ones. 



Some Old Settlers 




MR. N. B. REES. 

Mr. Kees is one of our old settlers, having come to J^incoln 
County in 1872, and lived here ever since, except for a short 
time when he was in Oklahoma. He has the honor of having 



62 



History of Lincoln Cowity 



made the tirst picture made in ttie county, and was in tlie 
pliotograpli and jewelry business for ten years. He is now in 
the laundry business. 

Mr. Kees is a civil war veteran, and his native home was 
Hlooniington. 111. 



ADOLPH ROENIGK. 

This is one ol the 
old timers who was 
born in "Der Vater- 
land" in 1847. His 
birthplace was Prussia, 
and he is the son of 
Gotlob and Marie Roe- 
niglv, who were honest 
thrifty farmers in good 
circumstances. He re- 
ceived a common 
school education, at- 
tending school until 
the age of thirteen, 
when he came to Amer- 
ica, leaving his parents 
in the old country. 

He settled first in 
Wisconsin and later 
went to St. Louis, 
where he learned the 
trade of saddler and 
harness making, attending night school. 

In 1866 he made a tour of Kansas, visiting Lawrence, TopeUa, 
and Manhattan, returning by way of Leavenworth. 

In 186f> he came to Kansas to make his home, working for 
the Government during the Indian troubles of the year. These 
pioneer days were the most enjoyable of his life, although he 
saw the usual hardships and sometimes came near loosing 
his life, being shot through the lungs once. But judging from 
his writings he appreciated the freedom of the plains. 

He and some of his companions were in a tight with the 
Indians in 1868. Two of them were killed. .Mr. Roenigk came 
back the next year and put up headstones of limestone and 
cut their names and the inscription "Killed by the Indians May 
28, 1868." 

He was one of the tirst white men in what is now Russell 
County, having come there at the time the tirst railroad was 




History of Lincoln County 



63- 



buili Iroin Kansas ("ity to Denver. He settled in Clay Counly 
in 1S70, and the next year his parents from Germany joined 
him. He engaged in the saddle and harness business in Clifton, 
Washington County, and was worth $20,000 at this time. 

He came to Lincoln County and engaged quite extensively 
in manufacturing, and has always done a prosperous business. 
He built several business blocks, but was burned out in 1<S'.)7 
without insurance, and met with other losses. He is still ( n- 
gaged in tlie harness business, as much for pleasure as profit. 
He received the white ribbon on manufactured leather goods 
at the Kansas State Fair in ISttO. 

Mr. Koenigk once went to California for his health, and is 
now on a tour around the world. He is a bachelor, an Odd 
Fellow, and a Royal Arcli Mason, also a valuable member ot 
the Kansas State l:!isiorical Society, for which he has writ- 
ten many articles, of liis own and others experiences. 



GEORGE SNAPP. 

C.eorge Snapp is one 
of the younger old set- 
tlers. He was born in 
West Virginia in 18.j'). 
Came to Kansas with 
his parents in 187"J, 
being nearly 14 years 
old. His parents lo- 
cated in Salt Creek 
Township, and George's 
first work in Kansas 
was herding cattle. 
The Snapp family came 
just in time to be "at 
home" when the grass- 
hoppers came on the 
fourth of July, 1874. 

George put in most 
of his time farming, 
and what time lie could 
spare from the farm 
he devoted to carpen- 
tering and plastering. 

He was married in 1885 to a Mitciiell County girl then living 
near Coursens Grove, named Winnifred Wines. To this union 
have been boin six children, five of them still living Their 
hrsi cbiki. a girl, died foniteen vears ago. 




64 History of Lincoln County 

About the y;ear 1885 Mr. Snapp bought the farm he new lives 
on four miles and a halt" northeast of Barnard. There are 240 
acres in the place, and it is choice land. One hundred acres 
is under cultivation, the balance being used for pasture. The 
place is well improved, there being a tine double-gabled six- 
room house and many other conveniences. He turns off a car- 
load of cattle every year. 

For the past twenty years Mr. Snapp has found time to do a 
great deal of carpentering and plastering. In later years the 
demand for his work in these lines has been greater than he 
could accommodate. He has built live houses since the middle 
of last October, and has several contracts waiting for him. It 
is a pretty good record, considering that he only devotes to his 
trade what time he can spare from the farm. 

That he is a past-master in his line of work is evident from 
the fact that he can't take all the work that is offered him. 

[The above is copied from the Barnard Bee. Since it was 
written Mr. Snapp has become owner of a section of land in 
Ellis County, south of Natoma. | 

T. J. M'CURRY. 

T. J. McCurry was born in North Carolina in 1841. Was 
married to Miss Mary Bowen in Georgia in 1866, and three 
years later he brought his family to Kansas, locating on what is 
now the Adams place. He farmed this place about fifteen 
years and then bought of David Swank the place he is now 
on near Milo, which consist of 8S0 acres in all, about 350 of 
it under cultivation. 

Mr. McCurry commenced buying grain at Milo in 1889, and 
in 1891 he built the elevator now being operated by his son 
Thomas. After conducting the grain business with profit for 
several years he this spring turned the business over to his 
son, who we feel confident possesses the elements necessary 
1o make a success of the undertaking. 

Mr. McCurry's success furnishes another example of what 
Kansas will do for a hard worker. When he landed in this 
country he had a team and wagon, but no money. That was 
in 1869. He gained a little on adversity during the next three 
or four years, but along came the grasshoppers in 1874 and set 
him back — 'way back. They cleaned up everything and left 
him as bad oft" or worse than he was when he came. But he 
stayed with the proposition, and to-day he is one of our solid 
men. He is a stockholder in the Barnard mill, lumber yard, 



History of Lincoln County fi"> 

investment company, a dii-eetor of tlie Bank of Barnard, ami 
president of ttie Barnard Toleplione Companj'. 

Mr. McCurry tells us that tlie chief industry in Kansas in 
the early days was cattle raising, which greatly held back the 
farming industry. But the herd law of 1874 came to the re- 
lief of the farmers, althou.^h it was at first feared that it 
would be a detriment to thorn on account of having a tendency 
to drive the caitJe out of the State, but such was not the case. 
Cattlemen were compelled to herd their cattle, and the farm- 
ing industry took en a boom, and it has been booming ever 
since. 

Anothe>' red letter day for Kansas was when the agricultural 
department introduced Russian hard wheat. It is a good thing 
and a money maker for the farmers, and has stayed with them 
ever since. 

Mr. and INIrs. iMcfurry have rt ised a family of five daugh- 
ters and one son. Three of the daughters are married: Mrs. 
Wlla Borgan, Mrs. Ida Richardson, and Mrs. Esther Lenhart. 
The first two live not far from Barnard, the last one at Fly- 
mouth, Kans. 




RESIDENCE OF T. J. IVIXURRY. NEAR MILO. 



66 History of Lincoln County 



Lincoln 



This is a ciiy, beautiful for situation. One can see it for 
miles nestled down between the hills and among its beautiful 
trees, with the town pot the only natural curio in the vicinity, 
towering like a big black watch-tower that guards from harm. 

The streets of this city are not paved with gold owing to 
the fact that there is but one man in town who can fit crutches 
to lame eyes, but they are lined up and dow^n with delightful 
shade trees. 

Lincoln has city waterworks, electric lights, excellent public 
schools, a college, fine residences, two blocks of flourishing busi- 
ness houses, a sanitarium, and a lot of automobiles. It is in 
the center of a large and prosperous farming territory, without 
a rival for many miles on either side, and the largest town on 
this branch of the Union Pacific between Salina and the State 
line. Nearly all the business houses in Lincoln are built of 
native rock, and except for the few frame structures brought 
over from Abram, they have always been. 

We get the early beginnings of Lincoln in the county seat 
fight, so it is not necessary to dwell on it here. The town was 
plotted May [\ 1871, and included the northwest quarter sec- 
tion 6, town 12, range 7. The town company were W. L. Gill- 
more, D. W. Henderson, J. S. Strange, Washington Smith, Thom- 
as Boyle, S. M. Babellette, and James Askey. 

Judge Prescott ordered a city election which resulted as fol 
lows: Mayor, Geo. M. Lutes; police judge, Mortimer Gragg; 
clerk, Lon A. Minx; councilmen, D. E. Coolbaugh, Geo. Green, 
Luther Stewart, H. Holcomb, Jos. K. Cheney. 

September 23, 1879, Lincoln became a city of the third class. 
So much of the history of Lncoln Center has been given under 
special articles that there is not much left to say here. Being 
the county seat it was the scene of many remarkable and ex- 
citing incidents during the days when it was customary to 
make strenuous remarks and punctuate them with bullets. 
Some of these incidents might prove interesting if told. 

But there is another side to the picture and another spirit 
which stood in sharp contrast to lawlessness. Lincoln from the 
very first was a hot-bod of progress and reform. Never was 



History of Lincoln County 6'' 

liquor legally sold in the town except in the year 1879. The 
State-wide suffrage campaign which had lain dormant after the 
defeat of 1876 was renewed by Lincoln women. Some of the 
most earnest and successful exponents of new reformatory 
measures, in politics, religion, and social life, have been Lin- 
coln people. 

It is evident from the outcome, most people were of the right, 
sort, so it is hardly worth while to elaborate on the sneak-thief, 
cowardly acts of a few adventurers when there was real work 
being done. 

There is a list of the business people in Lincoln in 1879 which 
we wish to mention in passing: H. Holcomb and E. B. Bishop, 
hardware; C. W. Perkins, grocer; Mr. Z. Burton, drugs; Frank 
Cogswell, M. D. ; .J. P. Cunnings and G. M. Lutes, partners in 
banking business; E. S. Pierce, furniture and undertaking; Hay- 
den & Greer, tin and hardware; Joseph Cheney, harness and 
saddles; M. M. George, harness and saddles; Otto Olson, shoe- 
maker; Luther Stewart, merchandise; Mrs. L. Stewart, mil- 
linery; R. H. Thompson, restaurant; Legett Bros., grocers. The 
early postmasters were, in their order, John S. Strange, Dr. Bal- 
lard, D. W. Henderson, J. M. Wellman, editor of the Register, 
and J. Z. Springer. There was a joint stock company formed 
in Lincoln in ISSl to tunnel the Saline River south of town. 
At another time bonds amounting to $3,000 were carried by a 
vote of sixty-one to six, to be used in prospecting for valuable 
minerals under the auspices of the Lincoln Mining and Pros- 
pecting Company. 

The town had a slow growth until the College was built and 
the railroad came through. Then new buildings sprung up like 
mushrooms in a single night. From March to May one hundred 
twenty-five buildings were erected. During the year (1886) Lin- 
coln doubled in population and trebled in wealth on account of 
these two new institutions 

Some time in the eighties a library was founded by the Lin- 
coln women. They went on from year to year building it up, aided 
only by the dog-tax generously donated by the city dads. Until 
the year 1897 it was owned by stockholders but at that time the 
books together with all property belonging to the association 
was given to the city. In 1899 it was made a public city library. 
January 1, 1908, there were 1,407 volumes in the library. The 
recently added books bring the total up to 1,526 volumes. 



«8 



History of Lincoln County 



THE PENNSYLVANIA STORE 





rPENING THE BE5T s^ EVERYTHING" 

THE PENNSYLVANIA STORE. 



The Pennsylvania store was established in Lincoln by Jas. 
K. Logan and John V.. Patton, of Indiana, Pennsylvania, and 
named by them in honor of their native State. The store was 
first opened for business on the 29th day of March, 1886, in the 
Swinburn block, the room now occupied by the Lincoln Fire 
Deparment. This room soon becoming too small, the stock was 
moved in January, 1887, to the room now occpied by the Skan- 
dia Furniture Company. Mr. Logan acquired Mr. Pattoi'i's inter- 
est in July, 1888, after which he added several departments, 
including men's clothing. 

Several men, now in business for themselves in Lincoln 
County, have been connected with the store in capacity of 
salesmen at different itmes, among them Dan B. Day, H. D. 
Hall, and Harry U. Porter, the latter having been with Mr. 
Logan for nearly fifteen yeais, and is still connected with the 
store as part owner and manager. 

A great many amusing things have happened in this store, 
a great many of which Dan Day was mixed up in. One of 
these being a supper given in the store on the evening of July 
4, 1891. There was an extraordinary large crowd in town and 
a hard rainstorm coming up about the time people were ready 
to start home, had swolen (he waterways to the extent that they 
were impassable. J)an conceived he idea and soon had two 
long counters the full length of the store filled with biead and 



History of Lincoln County 69 

butter, cheese, crackers, pickles, hot coffiee, etc. As »oon as 
the crowd had surround(>d tlie tables Dan went to the gun store, 
and, taking out a couple of Colt's six shooters, and mounting 
a stool with one in each hand, he informed the crowd that he 
did not care to hear any slighting remarks concerning «ny part 
of the spread or he would be obliged to call the offt-nder to 
account. It is needless to say that every remark was very 
complementary. 

Mr. Logan was a Bryan elector in 1896 and always took an 
active interest in anything that was "For Lincoln." H\! moved 
the store to its present location in July, 1901, and alter sell- 
ing the stock to Porter & Sons in June, 1904, he removed to 
Kansas City, Mo., whe:e he still lives, being engager in the 
wholesale notion business. 

The picture here shown is of the store In Its prestnt loca- 
tion, having afrontage of twenty-five feet on Lincoln Avenue 
and sixty feet on Fourth street. The furniture and fixtures 
are all finished in very light oak, Including the show-windows, 
which are all enclosed and electric lighted, making them the 
finest windows in the city. 

The departments, or lines of goods carried, embrace general 
dry goods, ladies' ready-to-wear, ladies' furnishings, hats, gents' 
furnishings, and groceries. The motto of the store, "the Best 
of Fverything," aptly represents the character of merchandise 
handled, and it has been said that this store has more "satis- 
tied customers ' than any store In Lincoln County. This is 
probably largely due to the fact that it Is the only store in the 
county that has always Insisted that "Every man's dolI&.r Is the 
same size," in other words, to have only one price- -that In 
plain figures, and RlCxHT. It has taken considerable uerve at 
times to maintain this idea in the face of pressure fov a con- 
cession — not of price alone, but principle, but the management 
has never weakened and have a good business and tfie con- 
fidence of the community as their reward. 

The twenty-two years since Its establishment has setn other 
stores spring into existence, Hourish for a time and pass into 
history, others have changed hands, sold out and left, some to 
come back and leave again, but In the face of all this, the 
Pennsylvania store has been making a steady gain and a sub- 
stantial growth. 

The firm consists of John E. Porter and his two sons, Harry 
U., Fred L., and Oscar V. Stewart, a son-in-law. Thti senior 
Mr. Porter settled on a farm on upper Spillman Creeh in Lin- 
coln County in February, 1874, Harry being a boy of 7 years. 
Fred was born on the same farm about three years later. 



70 



History of Lincoln County 




Boatinq on the Saline River. 




THE WINDSOR HOTEL 

ESTABLISHED 18 YEARS 

RATES. $2.00 PER DAY. ELECTRIC LIGHTS 

MRS. H, ALLEN, Proprietor- 



History of Lincoln Cowity 




THE MASTERWORKMAN MOUNTED. 

]V. FRYE, 

FEED, GRAIIN8, OIL8. 

A^ent for the Masterworkman. Easiest Gas Engine 
Mounted for Farm Uses. 




G. F. Shimeall 



The Clothiers 



LINCOLN, - KANSAS 



Hintory of Lincoln County 



A Matter of Interest to Those who Wish to Sell Lands or to Buy Lands. 

Mr. N. J. Davidson, of Lincoln, Kansas, has secured a 
membership, with the Cental Real Estate Dealers' As- 
sociation, which has headijuarters at Topeka, Kansas. 
By this membership Mr. Davidson has 1,000 Real Kstate 
firms representing' him in diiferent parts of the United 
States, and he is likewise representive for the same num- 
ber. Farmes desiring to sell or buy lands should call on 
Mr. Davidson. 



THE HALL DRUG CO., 

Drugs, Books, Stationery, Paints and Oils. 

LARGE LINE OF TOILET ARTICLES. 

'^ e - i -. '^o • th Celebrated Nyals Remedies. Every bottle Guaran- 
teed to ffive absolute satisfaction or money refunded. 

LINCOLN, KANSAS. 



% Don*t neglect your most 
;F Important Sense 

For neglect often causes diseases of the e3'e which cannot be 
cured. S^nnptoms of eye trouble are of such diversity that a 
thoroug^h discussion of the efiFects of e3'e strain would necessitate 
a volume. 

Eye Sight a Specialty. Full line of Electric Instruments for Defective hearing. 

B. F. SPENCER, Optician. 

Lincoln, Kans. 




Sewing Machine Perfection 

Is recognized the world over in i'HE SINGER 
SEWING MAC H INK. For Sale by 

SCANDIA FURNITURE CO. 

Lincoln, Kansas 

Also the Wheeler & Wilson and the White. 



History of Lincoln County T'i 



Do You Want 



To jjfet the best of everything: in the Meats, Fancy 
and Staple Groceries. There is no better place 
where you can gfet 

Good Things to Eat 

than at our store; cleanliness and jjfood (juality is 
paramount with us. Remember the place 

The Star Grocery & Meat Market. 

"Good Things to Eat" 

pc/SL""" ■ LINCOLN, KANSAS. 



LISTEN TO THE BIG RACKET— 

Combes and brushes, pocket books; pictures, wash- 
tubs, buttonhooks; jewelry-, cut class, silverware; 
sunbonnets, beads and puffs of hair; work baskets 
made of Ratan; hand-painted china from Japan; col- 
lars, cuffs, ties, dolls and toys — school supplies for 
girls and boys; fancy yarn of every hue; hats and 
thread and lanterns too. Christmas gfoods for all 
our callers; ten cents up to tiftv dollars. 

THE RACKET, Lincoln, Kan. 

The Chicago Lumber Co., 

Highest grade of building Material, American 
Field Fence of all Sizes, Iowa Patent Gate, Building 
Hardware. 

J. D. BROCKETT, Agent 

Lincoln, Kansas 



74 



History of Lincoln County 



"Buy It Ready to Wear" 



We have added to our stock a department of 
LADIES' READY-MADE GARMENTS. Why 
fuss around getting sewing done when you can 
buy your 



CLOTHES REAOY 



TO PUT ON, 





The Only One Priced Store in Lincoln County. 

The Pennsylvania Store, 

"The Best of Everything." LINCOLN, KANS. 



History of Lincoln County 



75 




The above is a picture of the White elevator of Lincoln owned 
and operated by Mr. F. W. Herman who has been in the g-rain 
business since 1886. Mr. Herman built an elevator in Sylvan 
Grove which he operated for several years and later sold. The 
elevator in the picture was built by Mr. Herman ten years ago. 

TELEPHONE 

Mr. Herman is also the Lincoln telephone man. A number of 
years ago he bought the telephone system from the Rees Tele- 
phone Co., who had just put in the equipment. The business 
started with less than sixty subscribers but now it has over six 
hundred and is growing so fast it can't be stopped. The system 
has country lines all over the county and connects with all other 
lines. 



The Saline Valley Bank 



Was chartered July li-8]. Ccmmenced busitiess August 1881, 
and has been open for business everj' da)' since, except Sundays 
and Legal Holidays — receiving deposits, loaning money, buying 
notes, School Dist., Township and County warrants— buying 
and selling both Foreign and Domestic Exchange. Trying to 
to serve its patrons courteouslj' and with fidelity; and advance 
the interests of Lincoln Countv. 



76 History of Lincoln County 



ITOR. 



WATERMAN & 
SMITH 



^^-^^^^^ Windmills, Pumps, 
Tanks and Supplies 

Phone 27 LINCOLN, KANSAS 



C. JVl. HEATOJN 

-Dealer in- 

BUGGIES, WAGONS AND FARM IMPLE- 
MENTS 

Lincoln, Kansas 



Hardware Stoves and Ranges, 

PAINTS, WINDOW GLASS AND KODAKS 

~at~ 

Lincoln. Kansas Smnh & BfOWning'S 

ARCHIE HAZEN, 



The Leading Tinner and Plumber. 
LINCOLN, - KANSAS, 



History of Lincoln County 



PIANOS: 



77 



Chickering Bros. 

Baldwin 

Howard 

Story & Clark 

Ellington 

Packard 

Smith & Barnes 

Shuman 

Williard 

Hamilton 

Strohber 



All Pianos sold on Easy Payments^ 
get our Catalogue and Price List* 




A. R. HALL, 



Lincoln, Kansas. 



Both Phones 486 



Bell Night Phones 470, 1065 



78 History of i^.ncoln County 



Farmers National Bank 

LINCOLN, KANSAS. 



E. T. Skinner, President 

W. B. McBride, Vice President 
D. C. Stelson, Cashier 

Bernice Mc Curdy, Asst. Cashier. 



We do a strictly Banking Business and ask for 
a share of your patronage. 



Histofy of Lincoln County 



7D 



Sylvan Grove 



One of the things which this little city has to be proud of, is 
her annual carnival and fair. Live stock and farm produce are 
shown and a three-days' good time is enjoyed by the people of 
the surrounding country. There is always a large showing of 
thoroughbred stock of all kinds which would do credit to any 
county fair in Kansas. The following is a brief hii^tory of 
Sylvan. 

The first settlers to come into this neighborhood were Louis 
Farley and son Hutchison about 1867. The Farley homestead 
was called Twin Groves. It is now owned by Charles Whittey. 

The Buzicks, who came in 1870, were the next family to move 
in. They have always been prominent in the county. Ira 
Buzick was the first representative to be elected from Lincoln 
County. W. C. Buzick has been county clerk and editor of a 
Lincoln paper. A. R. Buzick, who is at present a resident of 
Sylvan Grove, is one of the wealthiest men in the county. C. 
:\I. Heaton and the Meyers boys came in 1871. 

A postoffice was established at an early date which was called 




The Sylvan Grove Mill. 



so History of Lincoln Cou7dy 

Sylvan Grove. The name -was suggested by William Buzick. C. 
M. Heaton was postmaster, and the office was at his home two 
miles south of the present Sylvan Grove until about the year 
1877, when it was moved to the home of H. S. Merriman near 
where the town now stands. About this time E. B. Cross and 
W. F. Morgan built a small store. The next year Merriman 
put up a stone building into which tJie goods were moved. 
When the railroad come through the business was sold to Berger 
Bros. & Wilson. Later an interest was bought by Schemerhorn 
& Co. This was the only store before the coming of the rail- 
roads, and people came thirty miles to do their shopping and 
to get their grain ground at the mill, which had been built by 
Merriman & Mesterson in 1875. The mill went dowii in the 
flood of 1886. 'the old stone store is still standing. 

The town was platted in 1887 by the Sylvan Grove Town Com- 
pany. The land belonged to Wm. Bender and H. S. Merriman. 
A new store was built by .John Hoover. Sylvan has had a 
steady growth ever since, and has been especially prosperous 
during the last three years. 

There is an excellent telephone system owned by resident 
stockholders, three elevators, two large lumbers yards, and 
about forty other flourishing business houses in Sylvan Grove. 




Bi 



Old Stone Store at Sylvan. 



History of Lincoln County 



81 



The Sylvan State Bank, 

SYLVAN GROVE, KANSAS. 
Capital and Surplus, - $30,000 



A Bank that during the sixteen years 
of its existence has ahvays heen in 
postion to care for all legitimate needs 
of its customers, extending every ac- 
commodation consistent with con- 
servative, safe hanking. 

We solicit the accounts of farmers, 
treasurers, merchants, business men 
or any one wishing to become con- 
nected with a good, strong bank. 

Total resources $225,000; Individual 
responsibility of Stockholders over half mill- 
ion dollars. 

A. R. BUZICK, H. S. BUZICK, Jr., 

President. Cashier. 



82 History of Lincoln County 



Calene & Berger 



-DEALERS IN- 



Dry Goods, Ladies^ Furnishing 
Goods, Notions, Clothing, Hats 
and Caps, Shoes, Queenswares, 
Groceries* 

SYLVAN GROVE, - KANSAS, 



History of Lincoln County 83 



Barnard 



The Barnard territory, namely Sail Creek and ScoU Town- 
ships, was settled by cattlemen about 1868. In 1880 the lands 
were opened by the government to settlers. Houston & Son, of 
Concordia, acted as agents. These were the days of sod shan- 
ties, dugouts and lonesome bachelors, poor and homesick. 

The Barnard Bee gives a history of the town and we quote 
verbatim from that paper as it is hard to change history, and 
our write-ups would have to be the same at all events: 

"In the spring of 1887, when what Is now called the Barnard 
branch of the Santa Fe v/as being graded, it was first thought 
that a town would be started near the center of Salt Creek 
Township, as that township voted bonds and this one did not. 
No one thought for a minute that the road would plant a depot 
just across the line in Scott, a bondless township. So those in- 
terested located the probable site for the new town on the land 
where the late Dan Saunders farm is located, in Salt Creek 
Township, about three and one-half miles east and one south 
of the present site of Barnard. 

"The Baker Bros, came over from Asherville and started a 
lumber yard just across the road from the Saunders residence. 
W. D. Snapp and G. A. King were engaged to build an office 
for the company. A man named Ross Wilcox was the lumber 
company's manager. 

"But the railroad people had other views, and it became evi- 
dent that their depot would be located in Scott Township. Im- 
mediately two townsites were plotted, one on the west edge of 
Salt Creek Township, the other just across the township line 
in Scott Township. 

"The town plat in Salt Creek Township was on land belong- 
ing to Mrs. Kate Nealeigh; the one in Scott Township on land 
belonging to A. A. Ballard. 

"An interesting rivalry sprung up between the promoters of 
the two townsites, and the township line dividing them was 
soon dubbed the neutral strip. The Nealeigh site was faceti- 
ously styled "Slabtown." In this article we will distinguish be- 
tween the two i)laces by using the terms now in general use — 



■84 History of Lincoln County 

East Barnard referring to the Nealeigh site, and Barnard, mean- 
ing the Ballard site. 

"The first business enterprise secured by either of the two 
rival sites was the Baker Bros, lumber yard, which wau moved 
from the Saunders place to Barnard on its present site. 

"The first general store was opened in East Barnard by W. 
D. Snapp and his son-in-law, Marion Loy. Lew and Lee Morse 
had been running a store in Old Milo, two and one-half miles 
northeast of Barnard. Marion Loy and Geo. Snapp bought 
out the Morse boys at Old Milo when they found there would 
be no town started on the Saunders place. Five months later 
(summer of 1SS7) W. D. Snapp bought out his son George in 
the store at Old Milo and he and Marion Loy moved the stock of 
goods to East Barnard where Geo. Saine's house now stands. 
In a short time W. D. Snapp sold out to Lee Morse, and event- 
ually Mr. Loy retired, which once more left the Morse boys in 
possession of the business. They failed in business soon after. 

"The first residence built in East Barnard was the one now 
occupied by S. A. Duree, and was built by W. D. Snapp. 

"The first building built in Barnard was the one now occu- 
pied by Geo. Hiserote and family. It was built by Mr. Snapp 
as a residence for Ross Wilcox, manager of the lumoer com- 
pany. 

"In the summer and fall of 1887 East Barnard seemed to hold 
the edge over its neighbor across the way. Buildings were 
moved in from Old Milo and some new ones were put up. A 
man by the name of Gleason opened a general store; a livery 
stable was also started, operated by John Clark and hi,5 father. 

"David Metzgar ran first store in Barnard; kept a small stock 
of flour and feed in building now occupied by J. J. Preo's barber 
shop. The building then stood about where E. V. Wine's resi- 
dence is located. Doc Ballard opened up a small stock of 
groceries in the building now occupied by W. F. Burns and 
f£.mily. Barnard's first postoffice was established in the Ballard 
store, a man with the unusual name of Smith being the first 
postmaster. 

"Wm. Gill, father of Mell Gill, built the corner store now 
occupied by C. Coffman. For a while he ran a restaurant and 
boarded the men who were building the railroad. He later put 
in a large stock of groceries and general merchandise. This 
Tvas the first stock of goods of any importance that was put on 
sale in the new town. Wm. Gill is now located in Holly, Colo., 
and is still engaged in the same line of business. 

"A man named Jim Hoffman built and operated (he first hotel, 
the one now known as the Barnard hotel. 



History of Lincoln Coiudy 



85 



"J. T. Crowl built one of the first residences and still lives 
in the same building. Mr. Crowl's house and the hotel were 
built at about the same time, and by the same crew of men. 

"All this time the railroad graders were hurrying toward 
Barnard as fast as they could, and on or about the fourth day 
of December, 1887, the track was completed. On January 15^ 
1888, the road was turned over to the operating department, 
and it is presumed that regular train service went into effect 
that day. 

"But the Barnard of to-day is a busy, bustling reality, and 
once again we invite you to come and visit our little city, loolc 
over the beautiful, prolific Salt Creek Valley, and if you know 
a good thing when you see it you'll camp right here indefi- 
nitely." 




The Barnard School. 



^»6 History of Lincoln County 

FARMERS STATE BANK 

CAPITAL, - $15,000 



OFFICERS 
JAMES WILD, Pres. 

FRANK COLE, Vice Pres. 

J. A. LOUNSBURY, Cashier 

W. S. SWANK, Asst. Cashier 

DIRECTORS 

H. L. HINCKLEY JOHN VENARU 

JOHN JOHNSON WILLIAM WEST 

ORGANIZED, 1904 



The Business of Merchants and Farmers 
Solicited. 

THE FARMERS STATE BANK, 

BARNARD, KANSAS. 



Barnard Lumber Co. 

DEALERS IN 

Lumber, Coal, Lime, Cement, 

Windows, Doors, Building Paper, Mixed 

Paints, White Lead, Linseed Oil, Alahastine, 

Wood Water ^Kanks and Smithing Coal 



Come in and have us Our motto is 

figure your bills. THE GOLDEN RULE. 

A. M. GRIFFETH, Manager. 



The above concern is made up strictly of home people busi- 
ness men and farmers of Barnard. They wish to thank their 
many friends for the ^ood business they have enjoyed since 
buj'ing out the Barker Bros. Lumber Co., in 1892. 



History of Lincoln County 87 

J0HIN80IN BROS., 

BARNARD, KAIN8A8 

Dealers in 

General Merchandise. 



Our Motto: Honest Goods, Honest Dealini^s. 

Messrs. Stephen J. and John W. Johtison of this firm were born 
in Hawkins County, Tennessee, in the foothills of the Cumber- 
land mountains. The3' moved with their parents to Appanoose 
county, Iowa, in the j'ear 1868, and in the spring' of 1874 removed 
from there to Mitchell county, Kansas, and located with their 
parents on a homestead about twelve miles west of Barnard. They 
started in the mercantile business in Barnard about seven years 
ago, and have enjoyed a splendid business and made many warm 
friends in and around town. They are well known throug-hout 
Lincoln and Mitchell counties through their long residence in 
both. 

THE MODEL DRLG STORE, 

GEO. W. HOLLAND, Proprietor. 



Pure Drugs and Medicines 

Toilet Articles, Wall Paper and Paint. 

Barnard, - - Kansas. 

FIRST NATIONAL BANK 

BARNARD, KANSAS 

Capital, $25,000 Surplus, $12,500. 



M. S. ATWOOD, Pres. 

J. W. BKIDENSTINE, Vice Pres. 
F. F. BRACKEN. Cashier, 

M. I. STAUFFEN, Asst. Cashier. 



88 History of Lincoln County 



Beverly 



Beverly is the successor and sole heir of the promising burg 
(in embryo) of Colorado, which gracefully gave up the ghost 
in 18S6. The postoffice was moved in this year, and the town 
plotted. The land belonged to Volany Ball. The railroad came 
through about this time, and stores began to be built. 

D. R. Kernohan, who built the first general merchandise es- 
tablishment, was succeeded by his son and daughter, who are 
still in business. A hotel was built and run by Mr. Tussel. 
The hardware store was owned by Welsh Bros. 

C. M. Adamson, who was a doctor and was postmaster at 
Colorado, kept a drug store in Beverly in the same building with 
the postoftice. 

The first people to settle on or near the site of Beverly was 
the Colorado boys, in the bend of the river. They have al- 
ready been mentioned in the county write-up. Anyway, they 
baffle description, so we will pass on. The next settlers were 
Smiths and Greens. Mrs. Skinner taught the first school which 
has been mentioned in the "School History." The next school 
near this place was taught in a dugout by Mattie Seger. 

In 1905 the town was organized as a city of the third class. 
It is protected by a council of five wise men, and a big chief, 
whose name is T. F. Webb, Sr. Things have always run so 
smoothly in Beverly that there has never Deen a dog light, 
much less a town row, or a killin'. So it is up to the big chief 
to furni-^h enough excitement to keep the people from getting 
too fat. Accordingly he went out one day and shot a rabbit. The 
council had the day before passed an ordinance against shoot- 
ing' and the chief was fined $1.00. A little later he went out on 
the streets and hit a man. This cost him $5.00. His salary is 
$12.00 per year, but he was public spirited enough to return 
one-half of it to the treasury in lines. 

Some of the early settlers are still here. Dick Clark, alias 
R. B. Clark, the only one of the Colorado boys still living, 
Chalzmerz Smith and J. J. Peate, two of Forsythe's scouts; and 
Waldo Hancock, a protege of the Colorado boys. 

We know a little story about Jack Peate, and take this oppor- 
tunity to tell it. He came to Kansas at the tender age of 
sixteen. He was with a companion. When they got to the end 
of the railroad they bought a horse apiece, and started out to 



History of Lincoln County 



80 



ride across (he country. In the vicinity of Cawker City, they 
were surprised and captured by a band of Indians, dog soldieis 
probably, because Roman Nose was the leader. They were not 
killed on the spot, as the band was taking a circuitous route 
to their camp up the Solomon. The captives looked forward 
with pleasure to the honor of being tortured to death at the 
camp of this famous Roman Nose. But when they came near 
the bluff of Wacoanda they ran into a party of buffalo hunters. 
The captives escaped and went on their way rejoicing. They 
came down to Saline Valley and met some of the Colorado boys 
chasing some government mules and a beautiful little pony. 
Now this being Jack Peate's first experience on horseback he 
did not know how to capture a pony, though his intentions were 
good enough. So when his horse made a quick, vigorous turn, 
Mr. Peate went skyward. He landed near the town site of 
Beverly and has made it his headquarters ever since. 

Then there is the Skinner family who were early settlers, and 
are still one of the most prominent families in the community, 
and own a large amount of property in and about Beverly, ill. 
T. Skinner is our present legislator. He has shown great inter- 
est in preserving historical landmarks. 




One of the Rude Dwellings of Our Forefathers. 



IK) 



History of Lincoln Coiitity 



The Beverly State Bank, 

BEVERLY, - KANSAS. 




J. J. PKATK, Pres. 

A. K. SKINNP:R, Vice Pres. 
K. T. SKINNER, Cashier 

A. K. SKINNKR, Asst. Cashier 

A GENERAL BANKING BUSINESS. 



We take Good Care of Money Deposited with Us 



WE CARRY BURGLAR INSURANCE. 



History of Lincoln County 



■)1 




Waldo Hancock 

has a large 
list of 

Real Property 

For Sale 

Near Beverly, Ks. 

Ask him for prices 
before bu3'ing-, for he 
will try and save you 
nionej', and will g"uar- 
antee a perfect title. 

Four of the Best Fire 
Tornado and Hail In- 
surance Companies car- 
ried, with rates the low- 
est. 



A Matter of Interest to Tliose Wlio Wisli to Sell or Buy Lands, 



Mr. Waldo Hancock, of Beverl}-, Kansas, has secured a mem- 
bership with the Central Real Estate Dealers Association » 
which has headquartere at Topeka, Kansas. By this member- 
ship Mr. Hancock has 1,000 Real Estate Firms representing him 
in different parts of the United States, and he is likewise repre- 
sentative for the same number. Farmers desiring to sell or buj' 
lands should call on Mr. Hancock. 



]. E* Gall Commission Co^ 

Receivers and Shippers of Grain, Seeds and Feeds 
Buyers and Sellers of R. R. Stocks and Grains on margin. 



no West Sixth St. 



If you've got it it, we want it 
If you want it, we've got it 



Topeka, Kansas 



i>2 History of Lincoln County 



Vesper 



Settlement was begun in Vesper territory in 1869. It is a 
tradition that a battle occurred in 1868, at Lone Rock three 
miles south of Vesper between the Indians and some railroad 
employees, but it is impossible to find anyone who knew the 
particulars of the matter. 

When the settlement was once started the country filled up 
rapidly, and by 1872 all the government land was taken. \Vm. 
B. Cheney was the llrst settler. The Middlekauff family was 
the second, and they came when there was only one house be- 
tween Lincoln and Vesper. Other settlers were A. W. Lewis, H. 
S. Steele, Mr. Schofield, Troup Hickey, John Tool, Wm. Baird. 
Mr. Schofield's place was the objective point of all newcomers 
upon first reaching this part of the country. The first school 
was taught at H. S. Steele's. The Vesper postoffice was es- 
tablished in 1873 and moved around over the neighborhood 
for some years. It was first kept at H. S. Steele's farmhouse 
on section 10, Vesper Township, then in turn at the homes of 
the following people: Robert Lewis, John Stein, J. P. Harmon, 
Mrs. Robt. Lewis, whose husband had died in the meantime. 
While Mrs. Lewis was postmistress the railroad came through 
and the postoffice moved down near the station. A man by the 
name of Shoemaker kept the first shoe store. His building was 
burned later. :Mr. Baird, who is a carpenter and architect, built 
the first wagon ever made in the county in 1873 for Martin 
Hendrichson. He also built the first windmill for a Mr. Davis. 
Simon Bough built a store building and kept a stock of mer- 
chandise. He sold out to George Elrbd, who built an addition ta 
it. Miss Lillie White bought out Elrod. Middlekauff & Gilpin 
bought out Miss White, and put up the building now occupied 
by Wick & Jepsen. This firm also built a hardware store. Wick 
bought out the merchandise part of the business. Thos. Gar- 
rity, who had been running a drug store, sold out, built a stone 
building, bought the stock of hardware. Wick took Mr. Jep-- 
sen into partnership and about the same time Porter & Sons 
put a stock of merchandise in the old Bough building. John 
Murphy, who bought out Porter & Sons, has gone out of busi- 
ness. Thos. Garrity sold out early in 1908 to Mauris Cromwell. 



History of Lincoln County 



93 



Vesper now has a lumber yard, a blacksmith shop, a hotel, a 
restaurant, and a meat market, a hardwarfe store and general 
store and three ttourishlng elevators. Pictures of two of them 
are given below. 

There are two churches. Catholic and Presbyterian. The 
latter was built by a popular subscription, and is used by all 
denominations. 




The Farmers Elevator, at Vesper, Lincoln Co., Kans. 

CThe above is a view of the Farmers' Elevator at Vesper, 
the largest in the count)', (32000 bu. capacity. ) The)' handle 
all kinds of grain. 

COver one hundred stockholders. Organized in 1003. 

J. A. Twibell, Pres. L. P. Larsen, Sec'y- G. A. Metzger, Mgr. 



0in-opSweep Feed 
VBU Grinder. 



$14 



00 GaWanized 
Steel Wind Mill. 
We manufacture aU sizes 
styles. It Willi 
pay you to in- 
^ veatlg:ate. Write ' 

[cuopirjomoolf or catalog and / 
price list. 

CURRIE WIND MILL CO., 

Seventh St,, Topeka, Kansas 




H4 History of Lincoln County 

VESPER STATE BANK 

Capital Stock $10,000 Surplus $2,000 

W. B. M1DDI.EKAUFF, Pres. A. F. Morgenson, Cashier 

DIRECTORS: 

H. P. Jensen C. C. Nelson 

A. V. Broberg- W. H. Cheney 

C. H. Peckham 



Our Motto: Absolute .safety' to our Depositors. 
Our Policy is to insure our own stability and promote the 
highest interest of the community by confininir our business to 
this immediate vicinit3'. 



CThe following is some of the apparatus in our well equipped 
blacksmith shop:- Trip Hammer, Drill Machine, Three Emery 
Wheels, Rip Saw, Band Saw. Two Forges with Blowers, Two 
Tire Shrinkers, Tire Bender, Tire Bolter, Shears which will cut 
iron bar 3x4 in., Tool Grinder, Eight Horse Power Engine. 
We Are Equipped to Do Your Work. 

Jensen & Guggesberg. 



History of Lincoln County 



95 




LEIDIGH & HAVENS LUMBER YARD, Vesper. Kans. 

We want your business. House bills our specialty. None too 
larg^e or too small. < )ur stock includes (^oal. American F^ence. 
and Sherwin-Williams" Paints. LEX L. MORGAN, Manager 




S. D. BRUMAUGHS ELEVATOR, Vesper, Kans. 

This Elevator was rebuilt from the Herman I>ros. buildinij^, the 
first Elevator in Vesper. Established in 1896. Mr. Brumbaugh 
is handling his share of the million and a half bushels of wheat 
raised in Eincoln Countj' this 3'ear. 



96 History of Lincoln Cou7$ty 



Denmark 



One of the most important communities in I^incoln County 
history is the settlement of Danes on the Spillman. The first 
entry in this settlement was made on the southeast quarter of 
section 23 by Lorenzt Christensen in February, 1869. His broth- 
er homesteaded beside him at the same time. Eskild Lawritzen 
and wife Stine, Otto Peterson, John Maihoff, Mr. and Mrs. 
Wiclael all came during the winter and lived near each other. 
Of course, they faced many hardships, especially those incident 
to pioneering in the winter. One instance of these must suffice. 

One cold day in February Lorenzt Christiansen, while hueing 
logs for a dugout, some distance from any house, had the mis- 
fortune to cut his foot very severely with the axe. He was 
obliged to lay in the open without attention all day before help 
could arrive. His nephew, who was with him, kept up a fire. In 
the evening he was rescued by John S. Strange. 

In the Indian raid which occurred the next May, all the Danes 
but Peter and Lorenzt Christiansen and their families were 
killed or captured. These two men fought the Indians all day, 
and at night made their way with their families, to Schemer- 
horn's ranch. From there they went to Fort Harker, and later 
to Junction City, where they remained until January 1, 1871. 

When they returned they brought with them from Junction 
City John Larsen, N. Nielson, A. Rasmussen. The next April 
the ranks of Danish colonists were further swelled by James 
Morgeson, Peter Nielson, Peter Anderson, August Hansen, C. 
Bunk, C. Anderson, Mons Swenson, Olaf Holnberg, Ole Peterson, 
Peter Andreson, and Nels Peterson. All these people lived 
long, and were prosperous except Cris Anderson, who was killed 
in a runaway. Those who still remain at Denmarlv own beauti- 
ful and valuable homes. It took a long time in those days to 
subdue the wilderness and make it bloom as a rose and the pres- 
ent generation whose way is made easier in consequence can 
not be too grateful. 

The first school, a log building, was erected in 1875. C. L. 
Jensen was the fii'st postmaster and storekeeper in the settle- 
ment, and his location was next to the present school house 
site north of the road. Lorenzt Christiansen operated the first 



History of Lincoln Cou7ity 97 



blacksmith shop and did work for a very large scope of coun- 
try. 

Later settlers in the Danish colony were H. L. Hansen, L. P. 
Jensen, Henry Errebo, A. P. Jensen, C. Jensen, H. P. Bernhardt, 
C. Bernhardt, John Bernhardt, Christian Hendrickson, Mrs. 
Christiansen, Mattsen, and two Krieser families. 

There was one Indian killing which occurred in Denmark 
neighborhood, which has not yet been recorded in history. 
Lorenzt Jonhson, which is the American name of Lorenzt Chris- 
tiansen (his father's name being Chris Johnson), saw some 
Indians on the Spillman (date uncertain) and noticed that one 
of them wore a pair of red-topped boots. He recognized the 
boots as those formerly worn by a friend and shot the Indian 
wearing them. The body was buried on a promitory near by. 



School History 



The horizon of intellectual progress in any community can be 
guaged by its educational system and the interest shown in edu- 
cation by the people generally. A history of Lincoln County not, 
containing an account of its institutions of learning would, 
therefore, be misleading, as we have dealt to some length with 
the other side of the picture. We are fortunate in securing an 
article from Mr. A. T. Biggs whom every one will recognize as 
an authority on this subject. Believing our readers will enjoy 
this article better than anything the historian might write, it 
is given here with a few additions: 

"Settled as Lincoln County was by pushing Western people, 
along with Irish and Scandinavians, it is not strange that edu- 
cation occupied their ftrst thoughts. As early as 1867 or 18C8, 
while still keeping an eye open for Indians, Mrs. Skinner gath- 
ered her own children, Everton, Alfred, and Bing, and two Zieg- 
ler boys, Lli and Frank, into her dugout and taught them 'with- 
out money and without price.' She afterwards taught district 
school. In 18(38 ]\Iarion Ivy, one of Forsyth's famous scouts, 
taught a school in a dugout in Uncle Mart Hendrickson's door- 
yard. 

"John Lyden, a bright, intelligent Irishman, who was mur» 
dered and thrown into a well four years later, was appointed 
tJuperintendent of Public Instruction, on the organization of the 
•county. At the election in 1S71 John Harshbarger was elected 



History of Lincoln Cou^tty 



superintendent, but refused to quality. Washington Smltti, a 
scholarly old gentleman, served till the election of 1872, being 
succeeded in 1874 by John F. Harmon. In 1876 A. T. Biggs was 
elected, and served six years. He was followed in 1882 by H. 
B. Harris, who served two years. In 1884 James H. Allsworth 
was elected, and served four years, being succeeded In 1888 by 
A. T. Biggs, who served till 1892. Horace Trueman, E. D. 
Smith, W. E. Lyon, and A. J. Stanley, the present incumbent, 
each served four years. The leading characteristic of each 
superintendent might be summed up in a single word. Washing 
ton Smith, oldest, Wright, handsomest, Harmon, tinest presence, 
Briggs, busiest, Harris, strictest, Allsworth, laziest, Trueman, 




The Wait School House. 



jolliest. Smith, most dignified lyvon, most scholarly, aud Stan- 
ley most forceful. IJrains and energy pervaded the office of 
superintendent for many years, until to-day the county stands 
without a peer. 

liut after all It Is to the noble band of teachers, male and fe- 
male, (particularly the latter) to which we owe the efficiency 
of our schools. For the last sixteen years every Superin- 
tendent has received the bulls of his training in the schools of 
the County. That there have b^^en some "school keepers" in 
the great body of teachers cannot be denied, but the great 
mass have been conscientious God-fearing men and women. A 
personal mention of all the worthy ones would be impossible 



History of Lincoln County 9^ 



but this history would be Incoraplete without the names of a 
few of the principal aciors. 

No one who knows the early history of the County will deny 
to Mrs. Anna C. Wait the honor of being dean of the faculty. 
Her influence more than that of any other person has shaped 
the course of educational thought. She taught the first school 
in Lincoln in the little old house next to the City Hotel. This 
little building 10 feet by 2'A feet was kitchen, dining room, bed- 
room and parlor, as well as Captain Wait's law office, but by 
some sort of magic it was made to contain a school of thirty 
pupils. 

This was in 1S72, and there are middle aged men and wo- 
men in L,incoln today who were pupils in this school and who 
insist to this day that it was the "best ever." She taught many 
years in Lincoln as well as in Vesper, Lost Creek, Rocky Hill, 
and No. 63. Her influence in teacher's meetings, institutes and 
on examining boads was preeminent. It was she and Captain 
Wait who brought about the organization of the Normal Insti- 
tute in 1S77 when there were only twenty-three "de-fact" teach- 
ers to attend. Without a paid enrollment of fifty no sate aid 
could be had, so by ('aptain Wait's advice the business men 
were enrolled. 

Teaching seemed to run in families. There was the whole 
family of Skinners, Bing, Fred, Bert, Norah, and Calvin (Vinney). 
They were educated in the Monroe School where Mrs. Skinner 
taught in 1!^70. and which maintained its preeminence as the 
Hub, educationally. 

The Bakers, Florence, Flla, Ina, Lena, Meta, Edgar, and Eli, 
all taught acceptably and their father, Congressman Barker, 
himself a college graduate taught one term in Sunnnyside. 

The Smith family, Mrs. S. S. the mother, E. D., H. C, and 
Mabel, left a large impression for good in Lincoln County. 

It was said by one who ought to know that Anna C. Wait, 
Hannah McCorkle and Susan Smith were the "first three," 
Mabel Smith was the champion maker of bricks without straw,, 
supplying the lack of apparatus by home made contrivances. 
The work of E. D. and H. C. Smith was good but no better than 
that of the mother and sister. The Stanley family, Dan, Nora, 
Sadie, Art, and Eunice all taught acceptably, but it has re- 
mained for Arthur to add lustre to the family name as well as. 
to Lincoln County. For Lincoln is known as one of the lead- 
ing counties in educational advancement owing to the pre- 
eminence of her superintendent in the work of School Law re- 
vision, and the more intelligent and practical study of agricul-" 
ture in the schools. 



iOO 



History of Lincoln County 



Among the early teachers were John Stubbs, George Page, 
Viola LJoutman, H. Hammer, ("allie Scott, lia \V. Russell, 
Charley Price, William L. Barr. John O. Wilson, now a promi- 
nent lawyer ot Salina, Sarah A. Cole a leading physician and 
tiead of the Sanitarium at Lincoln. Laura Page Peate, wife of 
J. J. Peate, of Beverly, W. T. Prescoll, who secured a certificate 
and his wife taught the first school in District No. 2?,, F. V. 
BYans taught the second. Probably Hannah Mary Moss for 
so many years in charge ot the primary department of the Lin- 
coln schools, started as many children right in her twenty- 
five years of experience as any other person. 

A. A. Songer who has taught acceptably some twenty years 
in Lincoln ('ounty, and fifteen more in other places is a man 
who understands the se- 
cret of success in his 
profession. For the past 
five years he has been 
on the examining board, 
where he has acquitted 
himself with great credit. 
in point of service he is 
-one of the "oldest" teach- 
ers in the County, and 
his characteristic zeal 
-and energy increases 
with each year. His work 
in any given branch has 
always been complete 
and thorough. He is now 
willing and abundantly 
competent to be probate 
judge. In fact he is ex- 
-tremely well equipped for 
the duties of this office. 
John A. Schofield who 
taught long and success- 
:rully was a man of deep convlclions, and strong prejudices. Few 
persons carried into their work a quicker, finer conscience. His 
iOnly fault was a peppery temper. Hut being a very blonde- 
blonde he could not help being "red-licaded." He is now clerk 
of Dewey County, Ukla. 

Probably the youngest teacher that ever taught in Lincoln 
or any other (.Jounty was Carrie Matson, now Professor of Latin 
in Kansas University. About 1880 teachers were scarce, and 
Carrie who was thirteen but looked any age from eighteen to 




History of Lincoln CouKty 101 



twenty-five, was siiaiited a eeititicate and taught successftilly 
at llocky Point. At ir'otleisburg lier success was repeated but 
it leaked out that slie was under age and the superintendent 
got the roast thai was coming to him. A quarter of a century 
of successful work has justified the judgment of the examin- 
ing board. 

The oldest person who ever taught in the County was Mr. 
Brown from Ot'avva County, who taught in Uistirct No. 54, Elm 
Creek, in the early '9l)'s. 

.lames Dengate who taught in the schools of the County for 
a quarter of a century and was in active demand. He was a 
Ijundle of live wires and his clear megaphone tones penetrated 
not only the unermost corner of the school room, but also tHe 
atmosphere for a quarter of a mile. Then there was Alice 
Reddingshaffer and Lillie Loy who spoke so low that 
the pupils had to keep very still to hear them. All succeeded 
equally well. 

John McBride is another example of the soft voice but only 
eternity can tell what an influence for good was in that soft 
voice and spotless character. 

The earlier schools were taught iu dugouts or vacant claim 
shanties, without desks^ chairs, blackboards or other furniture. 
In District 21 Laura Feate taught in Rod Wilmarth's kitchen 
and in District 56 the first school was taught in Fouts cellar 
and it was out and beyond better than the average. In Dis- 
trict 22 Mrs. B. H. Ellsworth taught in the basement with eartb 
floor and two small windows. The seats were blocks of stove- 
wood that could not be split. Earge sheets of brown manilla 
paper were used for blackboards and to write lessons on to 
supplement the short supply of books. 

District 34 started a school in a shanty with nothing but four 
bare walls, an earth roof and floor and a sad apology for a door. 
The children were ragged but bright and industrious and many 
of them, now middle-aged and well to do people can point with 
pride to their rise in the world. Mrs. William Nash taught the 
school furinshing her own apparatus, a board painted with 
lamp-black, some bits of chalk (not crayon) and four or five 
odd books. Cornstallcs and weeds gathered by teacher and 
pupils were burned in a cast-away stove. And yet this was only 
thirty years ago! 

"Ad Astra per Aspera.' 

The Normal Institute provided by the legislature of 1877 has 
been one of the prime factors in upbuilding the educational 
fabric. The good results obtained are largely due to the happy 



102 History of j^.ncoln County 

selection of the Normal Faculty, many ot the very best workers 
of the State having been employed. 

E. i^\ Robinson, Salome Fierson and Anna C. Wait were the 
first Normal teachers. Robinson received $100.00 for his work, 
Miss Fierson $60.00, while Mrs. Wait gave equally good service 
free of charge. 

C. T. Pickett, once principal of the Lincoln schools, con- 
tlucted five of the earlier institutes and left the impress of 
his genial kindly nature, an all precious legacy. At present 
the institute has a core of instructors equal or superior to any 
in the state. They are Mr. C. E. St. John, Mr. ('. M. Ware, 
Inez M. Chapman, and Carrie F. Bradley." 

This Is the end of Mr. Biggs' article, but the conclusion of 
the matter is that he himself is not represented as he deserves. 
In our educational universe he is one of the immortal gods. 
When he left the office at the close of his six years' continuous 
service, he could describe the location of every schoolhouse in 
the county and he knew the names and faces of all the pupils 
attending the schools at that time and their rank in their stud- 
ies. He played ball, ante-over, and pull-away with them, even 
lo the second generation, covering the sixteen years between 
1876-1892, ten of which he filled the office of county superintend- 
ent. From 1877 to the present (1908) the teachers of the 
county have been largely of those boys and girls. 

Do they remember and appreciate him? No Normal institute 
is complete without him and he has missed but one since 1877. 
He IS always drafted and compelled to come even from the ut- 
termost parts of Kansas. Last year the Normal institute sur- 
prised him with a gold watch in which was the inscription: 

"With love, from your Lincoln County Girls and Boys." 

Mr. Biggs organized most of the school districts and upon 
his leaving the office in 188^ it was found that Lincoln County 
stood above any in the State regards lo the per cent of 
enumeration as to population, of enrollment as to enumeration, 
and average attendance as to enrollment. The wages of wo- 
men more nearly approximated thai of men than in any other 
county. 

About this lime the county had seventy-eight districts with 
buildings valued at $19,i!;jO, and was spending about $11,000 a 
year. There was an enrollment of 2,267 out of 2,888 people of 
school age. At the time of Mr. Biggs' tinal retirement from 
otlice there were eighty-tive districts employing ninety-four 
teachers. The school population was 8,600. 

As compared with the valuation of school property in 1882-iJ 
the high school building as it stands now is worth $18,000. 



History of Lincoln County 



103 



o> 




I'H History of Lincoln County 



Kansas Christian College 

In 1S84 the Bible Christian Church of Kansas proposed to 
build a college. The State (Conference voted a sum ranging 
between $6,000 and $10,000 to start the institution providing 
the city in which it should be located would furnish a like 
amount. There were some very enterprising citizens of Lin- 
coln who were members of this church, and they set about to 
secure the college for their locality. A meeting was held in the 
Baptist Church and a committee was appointed to present res- 
olutions to the city council. The result was that a sum of 
|7,;'.00 was voted by Liincoln, and a committee appoitued to se- 
cure $2, .500 by subscriptions. Those who deserve most of the 
credit for bringing the college to Lincoln are Rev. E. Cameron, 
at that time the resident minister of that church, and Rev. Geo. 
Tenny, who was president of the State Conference and Board 
of Trustees. The college had its origin in the Southern Kan- 
sas Christian Conference. Having decided the location and se- 
cured the pledge for money no time was lost in beginning. 
April 21, 18X4, college was opened in the Baptist Church to pre- 
pare students for successful work the next year. The enroll- 
ment started at twenty-two and increased till it reached forty- 
nine. Geo. Tenny was principal of this preparatory school, it 
closed after several weeks of profitable work and plans were 
perfected for the beginning of autumn term. 

Thomas Bartlett, A. M., was chosen president. He and Geo. 
Tenny taught the college classes. Courses were offered in 
Biblical literature, higher Kngiish, ancient and modern lan- 
guage, economics, ethics, mathematics, and the sciences. Rev. 
E. Cameron, principal of the preparatory school, was assisted 
by a full corps of teachers. 

The cornerstone of the building was not laid until July 23, 
1885. It was occupied in 1886. Ten acres had been donated for 
a building site. 

The IJncoln College Banner was first published in 188.5. At 
one time ],S00 copies of the paper were issued. 

In a few years the kindergarten and primary departments 
were discarded and the insiitution gave its whole attention 
to strictly college work. The attendants came to be called 
students and not pupils as before. By 1890 the prepartory fit- 
ted the student for firpt grade certificates. The college at this 



History of Lincoln County 10r> 



A College Eduction 

Is the corner stone on which the Twentieth 
Century man or woman must huild success. The 
plea is no longer "I can not afford it," hut "I can 
not afford to be without it." 

A Rare Opportunity which comes to a compar- 
atively small per cent of young people is at your 
door 

The Kansas Christian College 

a home college, recognized abroad. Four full 
courses leading to degrees: Commercial, Normal, 
Scientific, Classical. 

The Commercial Course equips the the young 
person for the business world. 

The Normal Course gives special attention to 
subjects leading to state certificate. 

The Scientific Course takes up the practical side 
of all the Sciences. 

The Classical Course gives the student a broad 
and solid foundation for any work in life. 

Two year's work in any of the above courses 
is accepted by the State University, allowing those 
desiring a diploma from there to take two year's 
work at home. 

We also offer a Four Year's Course in Bible 
Study. 

GEO. R. STONER, Pres. 



106 History of Lincoln County 

time ottered normal, scientific, classical, and commercial 
courses. 

The work of the first president, Rev. Bartlett, extended over 
a period of eight years and through the early struggles he was 
a most efficient worker. 

Rev. Cameron, who succeeded him, served as president three 
years. His work for the college did not close with his pres- 
idncy as he is at present on the board of trustees. 

President Whittaker, who served for thirteen years, prob- 
ably did more than any one man for the institution. He found 
it heavily in debt and the building yet unfinished. He was a 
man of excellent business qualities, and by push and persist- 
ence cleared the college of indebtedness and finished the build- 
ing. 

Rev. Geo. R. Stoner, A. M., who has been president for the 
last two years, is a young man, unusually capable and well edu- 
cated. During his administration many permanent improve- 
ments have been made. Many more contemplated for the com- 
ing year. 

In looking over the courses offered and the splendid faculty 
secured we feel that Lincoln County ought to be proud of the 
Kansas Christian College. Yet in our rounds of the country we 
hardly heard it mentioned. Lincoln County has a great many 
advantages to boast of, yet there is one thing which it ought 
io take pride in above all else — its educational advantages — its 
public schools and its college. These may not add in any di- 
rect way a specified amount to its pile of dollars, but they stand 
near the goal toward which all material gain ought to aim — 
namely, intellectual and spiritual progress. Material progress 
is not an end in itself, but it gives an opportunity for higher 
progress. When made an end in itself it loses all its value, and 
is a curse instead of the blessing it might be, if used for the 
proper purposes. If there was a prospect of getting a new 
railroad through the county the citizens would put up $75,000 
or $100,000, by private subscriptions, or by bonds. There are 
any number of men who would give a thousand dollars each out 
of their own pockets without expecting any direct returns, in or- 
der to see a new railroad come through their vicinity. Why not 
invest a like amount in a college? There is a financial as well 
as a moral and intellectual return in a good, ttourishing col- 
lege and the citizens ought to realize this and act accordingly. 

The college at the present time is doing most excellent work 
in a $ao,000 building, but it ought to have $300,000 in buildings 
in order to do the work it is capable of doing for the commun- 
ity and for its students. 



History of Lincoln County 107 



Women's Organizations 

The Lincoln Suffrage Association is in some ways the most 
interesting of all the women's organizations in the county. It 
was organized in ]<xxo, the tirst one in the State since the de- 
feat of suffrage in the Legislature of 1876. Four years after- 
wards (18S4) the State Association was organized, and just 
seven years from the time that three Lincoln County women 
got their heads together and made up their minds they would 
vote, the women of Kansas had municipal suffrage. Mrs. Anna 
C. Wait was the first woman to vote in Lincoln. During the 
campaign when the amendment was voted on, Mrs. Wait and 
Miss Eva Corning of Topeka stumped the county in the in- 
terests of the amendment Their program was interesting and 
to the point, and gained a great many votes. 

Equal to Mrs. Wait in ability and in works was Mrs. B. J. 
Biggs. For many years both with voice and pen she dealt 
sturdy blows for equal rights for women. She had the talent 
for making converts. She organized the Stanton Suffrage So- 
ciety near the present site of Barnard, lectured throughout the 
county, and wrote m.uch. She contributed to the Lincoln Bea- 
con in the '80s, over the pen name of Nancy, and did much to 
silence opposition by her ready wit and keen sarcasm as well 
as her valid argument. 

Mrs. Bertha H. Ellsworth, a writer of ability of both prose an-l 
verse, held aloft the banner of woman suffrage and prohibition 
during all those busy years of work and sacrifice for these twin 
reforms in Lincoln County. 

In the early days of the Suffrage Association an amusing in- 
cident occurred between this organization and Geo. A. Ander- 
son, the famous "horsewhipped," who favored whisky and op- 
posed suffrage. He was at that time editor of the Register and 
after printing the call for a meeting of the women gave vent 
to his feelings in a scurrilous article entitled "Woman vs. 
Man," displaying his ignorance both in thought and composi- 
tion. The ladies sent him a copj' each of a standard English 
Spelling book and English Language Lessons, together with 
very appropriate resolutions. 

The same group of ladies were much amused upon one occa- 



108 History of Lincoln County 



sion by a lawyer trying to explain tiie constitution to them, and 
the law governing presidential elections. Many of these as- 
pirants for political rights could have told him things about 
the law. 

In 1884 a petition signed by 226 Lincoln County people was 
sent to the Legislature. Representative R. T. Bryant from 
Lincoln made a speech against allowing Mrs. Gougar to speak 
in the House. His motion to lay the question on the table was 
defeated 93 to 18. Eight members of the Lincoln Suffrage So- 
ciety and Helen M. Gougar of the Ellsworth Society went to 
Topeka, and on June 26, 1884, organized the State Equal Suff- 
rage Association. Two ye^rs later Kansas placed the munici- 
pal woman suffrage law among her statutes. 

The Lincoln Beacon helped the good work along by devoting 
a full page each week to suffrage. Mrs. Wait organized asso- 
ciations all over the county. The Kansas \V. C. T. U. joined 
hands with the suffrage society to aid in securing this law. 

The W. C. T. U. in Lincoln was organized July 24, 1880, and 
is now, as it always has been, active and alert. From the start 
it assumed and has always maintained an aggressive attitude 
and the comparative freedom of Lincoln Center from the bane- 
ful liquor traffic is largely due to the efforts of the W. C. T. U. 
There has been but one licensed saloon in town and it only held 
its license a year. Sylvan Grove and Beverly also have active 
W. C. T. U. locals. There have been when especially needed 
other temperance organizations in the county. 

The Radical Reform Christian Association, a temperance, pur- 
ity, and equal rights association all in one, was organized ia 
1883 by Mrs. A. G. Lord and held a two-day annual picnic each 
year for twenty-five years in Christiansen's Grove. 

The influence of this organization and its founder upon the 
young people in the northwestern part of the county has been 
a matter of note for years. The R. R. C. A. attracted atten- 
tion abroad. 

Mrs. Lord was a tireless worker. She often preached four 
sermons a day, driving eighteen or twenty miles to do it. On 
one occasion she rode eighty miles to the Bunker Hill vicin- 
ity. She was the author of a petition to the State Legislature- 
to amend the school laws, so as to forbid issuing a teacher's 
certificate to any one using profanity, intoxicating liquors, or 
tobacco. It was signed by five hundred teachers at their State- 
meeting. 

Mrs. Lord removed to Topeka to educate her son ,and while 
there did prison work, and was instrumental in getting the- 
Crittenden home established in that city. 



History of Lincoln County 109 

All the men's fraternal societies have large, active, and help- 
ful woman's auxiliaries. The Woman's Relief Corps has a 
large membership and in its quiet "let not your left hand know 
what your right hand doeth" way does a large amount of char- 
itable work besides giving thoir brethren, the G. A. K., many 
a lift. 

OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. 

The Soldiers' Union Wii.s organized June 28, 1879. The first 
officers were: R. S. Wilmarth, post commander, W. S. Wait 
having declined to serve; A. T. Biggs, post adjutant; John Med- 
craft, chaplain; ,1. D. Gilpin, surgeon; G. W. Cruson, quarter- 
master; company otticers, J. F. Smith, captain; W. F. Limpus, 
first lieutenant; T. A. Wells, second lieutenant; sergeant, first, 
W. E. Marsh; second, E. Halcomb; third, Samuel Donley. This 
union was finally succeeded by the G. A. R. 

Farmers' clubs of different sorts began very early in this 
county and by 189^ the county was a perfect network of them, 
each one a live wire. There was a central Farmers' Alliance 
with thirty-five thriving locals. 

Hack in the '80s there was a strong Prohibition Club, and in 
1888, Rev. Geo. Tenney, Anna C. Wait, and W. S. Wait repre- 
sented Lincoln County in the State Prohibition Convention. 

The old settlers are organized for the purpose of preserving 
county history, and have an anmial reunion and barbecue 
where they feast, smoke the peace pipe, and "swap yarns." 
Native born citizens or those who have lived in the county 
twenty years are eligible to membership. 



110 History of Lincoln County 



Newspaper History 



The ftrst newspaper was the Lincoln County News, published 
in Lincoln Center in 1873. The editor was F. H. Barnhart. 
April '6, ot the first year of its publication, W. C. Buzick bought 
an interest in it. In December Barnhart sold his interest to 
Rev. P. Baker, who assumed editorial management and pub- 
lished it till December 2L', 1874. Later it was passed on to J. 
W. Newell, who moved it to Stockton in Rooks County. 

Barnhart began the publication of the Farmer, July 16, 1874, 
and the next January moved it to Osborne County, where it is 
now the famous Osborne County Farmer. 

The Western Democrat was started late in 1874, and June 
15, 1875, was sold to G. VV. Wellman. The name was changed 
to the Saline Valley Register, it was the county paper till 
January, 1879, when it was sold to Watson and Kimes. In Sep- 
tember of the same year it was sold to Geo. W. Anderson, who 
was proprietor until 1883. I\lr. Anderson sold his plant and in 
1884 his successor published a paper called the Lincoln Banner. 
In 1886 it was changed to the Lincoln Republican. 

Late in 1879 Ira Lutes began publishing the Argus, it wax 
bought by Hon. Walter S. Wait and his wife, Anna C. Wait, 
in 1880, who assisted by their son, A. H. Wait, published it un- 
til the death of W. S. Wait. A. H. Wait continued the publi- 
cation until the ofiice was burned in 1901. 

The Beacon was in many ways the most remarkable paper 
ever published in Lincoln County, and in fact one of the most 
remarkable county papers it has ever been the write/'s priv- 
ilege to peruse. The Waits all had a natural sympatny lor the 
under dog, and provided said dog was in the right, always 
stayed with him to the end of the battle, no matter how many 
times they were bitten by opposition. 

A great deal has already been said about ]\lr. and Mrs. Wait, 
so we will only mention in this connection their son, Alfred H. 
Walt. 

He was (and still is) a practical printer, having learned the 
trade in the office of the Junction City Tribune in the early 
seventies. He was connected with the Beacon during the 
twenty-one years prior to its total destruction by fire (incen- 



History of Lincoln Cou)ity 



111 




MR. W. S. WAIT. 



MRS. ANNA C. WAIT. 




^'> 




MR. A. H. WAIT. 



112 



History of Lincoln County 



diary). He was always local editor, the last seven years edi- 
tor-in-chief, and the last Ave also owner and publisher. 

The Beacon started as a Republican paper advocating prohi- 
bition, anti-monopoly, and woman suffrage. It supported the 
Republican party nationally until 1888, when it became con- 
vinced that the Republicans were beyond reform. That year 
it supported the Labor Party and the ticket of this party was 
elected in Lincoln County. In 189i! it became Populist and re- 
mained so as long as the paper was punblished. It never 
missed an issue. 




This is the office which was built in 1885 and occupied by 
the Beacon until it was burned in I'JOl. It was 20 by 56 feet, 
and the only building ever erected in Lincoln as a printing 
office. 

We have already mentioned that the Lincoln Republican was 
established in 1886. This gives it the dignity of the oldest pa- 
per in the county, it is consistently Republican and true to its 
name. K. A. McCullum is proprietor and editor. 

The Sentinel, which is the Democratic paper of the county, 
was established in 1894 by ha Troup. It is owned at present 
by C. C. Stoner. 

Both the papers in Lincoln are alive and up-to-date, and are 
a great help to the town. In fact, they are an absolute ne- 
cessity. 



History of Lincoln County 113 

SYLVAN GROVE NEWSPAPERS. 

The Sylvan (Jrove Sentinel, a neutral paper, was founded in 
1887. 

The present Sylvan paper, the Sylvan Grove News, began in 
1895 as the Alert. A man by the name of Hower was editor 
and publisher. May 4, lyoo, the name was changed to what it 
is at present. Since then it has had various owners, St. Clair 
& Hafter, Smith & Cross, Harder & Poor. Harder bought 
out Poor and for a time A. J. Graves edited the paper for 
Harder. Tell Peterson recently became proprietor and editor. 

BARNARD NEWSPAPERS. 

The first paper in Barnard was the Barnard Times, published 
by S. M. Figge, date uncertain. 

The Barnard Bee was started six years ago by Will DeVin- 
ney. This paper is certainly a live wire in every way. it is 
responsible for some of the unusual prosperity which has come 
to the town in the last few years. A good paper can help a 
town, and this editor knows it. It has a good circulation and 
the subscription list is constantly growing. In politics it is Re- 
publican or otherwise. It has convictions and sticks to them. 



Resources 



It is estimated by the elevator operators that the wheat yield 
in Lincoln County this year will run a million and a half 
bushels. 

Wheat is eighty cents this year, and is turning out 20 to 'M 
bushels to the acre. 

The crop next in importance is corn. We saw some in our 
rounds which was twelve to fourteen feet high with ears large 
accordingly. Whoever has a hundred acres of corn in Lincoln 
(bounty is a rich man. 

Alfalfa, the Kansas hay crop, is a moneymaker here. The 
fourth crop is now being harvested, and it is a big crop, too. 

Vast quantities of cream and eggs are shipped daily from 
every station in the county. Vesper shipped out 55 cans of 
cream of 100 pounds each and ;-)6,000 dozen eggs, and this was 
nothing unusual either. 

Better probably than words or figures would be a look at the 
county. The farm houses are large and well kept. The sons 



114 



History of Lincoln County 



and daughters of these farm estahlishments are being educated 
in the Kansas colleges and abroad. 

In making our rounds we found that if we happened to men- 
tion unemployed or poor people in the city the people would 
exclaim, "VVhj^ don't they come out here. We can give them 
a job any time." 

The most up-to-date machinery is used for planting and har- 
vesting crops and to save household labor. The latest thing 
which we noticed in the way of farm machinery was a corn 
binder which will probably soon be in general use, solving to a 
great extent the problem of harvesting corn and making it pos- 
sible to raise a larger acreage. 







^. 




A Lincoln County Wheat Field. 



The above is a picture of a Lincoln County wheat held show- 
ing tlie grain so thick as to make i( difficult to harvest. 



History of Lincoln County 



WILLARD E. LYON. 



115- 



In this connection wv 
wish to mention Mr. 
Willard B. Lyon, who is 
familiar with the re- 
sources of Lincoln 
County, and the advan- 
tages it offers to home 
seekers, as well as in- 
terested in everything 
in the way of public 
improvements and pro- 
gress. 

Mr. Lyon was born in 
Chilton, Wis., March 
30, 1874. Two years 
later the family moved 
to Lincoln County, 
where they have since 
made their home. The 
subject of our sketch 
attended common and 
high schools here. He 
began teaching in 1894, 
and two years later served on the counLy examining board. 
The next year he went to the State Normal and graduated from 
this institution in 1900, as a valadictorian of a class of one hun- 
dred and eight members. The same jear he was elected county 
superintendent of schools and served two terms. 

In ll!04 he edited the Sentinel and could always be counted 
on to support the right side of any public problem. The next 
year he became associated with his father in the land business^ 
and since that time has sold property amounting to three-fourths^ 
of a million dollars. 

This year Mr. Lyon bought out the Star Grocery and Meat ■ 
Market and is making a success of this business, as he does^ 
everything. 

Mr. Lyon has been a member of the State Text Book Com- 
mission since 1905. He is also a member of the Lincoln school 
board. 

As a citizen Mr. Lyon is always willing to support in a sub- 
stantial way everything which will be of benefit to the com- 
munity. As a real estate deahn- he can show you just what you 
want at the right price. 




ll« 



History of Lincoln County 



N. J. DAVIDSON. 



Mr. N. J. Davidson, 
one of the real estate 
and loan men of L.in- 
-coln, has been in the 
county twenty one 
years. He was county 
clerk for four and one- 
half years, after which 
he went into real es- 
tate business. His long 
residence here has 
made him familiar with 
the lands all over the 
•county and he can 
show his customers 
these lands to good ad- 
vantage. 

Mr. Davidson is a 
member ot the Nation- 
al Co-Operative Realty 
Company, and by this 
means can sell lands in 
any part of the United 

;States and Canada. He is also a member of the Central Real 
Kstate Dealers' Association, by which he is in cooperation with 
the real estate dealers all through the West. It will be to the 
advantage of any one leaving l^incoln County to have a talk with 
Mr. Davidson, and let him know where they intend to locate, as 
he can be of assistance to them In buying property in any local- 
ity, which they may select. To any person desiring to locate in 
Lincoln County he can show the best farm and town properties 
in the market. 

Mr. Davidson is making a specialty ot the loan business. He 

< oas an unusually good loan proposition by which he makes loans 

running from one to Hve years. These loans are marie bearing 

annual Interest and with the privilege of paying back all or part 

• of the loan at the end of any one year without regard to the 

'length of time the loan was supposed to run. 

In addition to loans and real estate Mr. Davidson has an ab- 
stract, and An Insurance business. 




History of Lincoln County 117 



The Stock Business 



Lincoln County used to be a great grazing section, but the lan<j- 
is now too valuable for agricultural purposes to be used exten- 
sively for grazing. The limestone hills, however, are still used 
for this purpose, and the grass is said to be the best In tbe 
world for producing bone and beef. It grows in great abundance 
in May, June, July, and August. Instead of shipping cattle to 
pasture for other people for so much per head the Lincoln Coun- 
ty people buy stock on the Kansas City market, pasture it a 
season, and sell in the fall. The farthest point of pasturage is 
not over ten miles from the nearest loading point. 

When pasture is hired it is generally bought at ?3 per head. 
The gain per steer runs from 850 to 400 pounds for the feeding 
season. 

Most of the farmers keep a small herd of native grade cattle, 
but an increasingly large number have thoroughbred cattle and 
hogs. The raising of pure-bred animals for the market is a mat- 
ter of education and the people of Lincoln County are finding 
out that it pays better to raise them for the ordinary market 
than to raise the best grade stock obainable. The stock-breed- 
ers tlnd a ready market for their animals at home, but some of 
Them who have taken prizes at the State fairs have tilled orders 
from all parts of the country. 

Horse-raising is also an important industry in Lincoln Countj , 
and there are several men in the west side of the county en- 
gaged in this business. The following is a partial list of thor- 
oughbred stock breeders in the county: 

A. J. Hinkley, Milo, Poland-Chinas. 

Thomas Collins, Lincoln, Poiand-Chinas. 

John Black, l^arnard, Poland-c:hinas. 

Henderson Howe, Barnard, Poland-Chinas. 

a. A. Woods, Lincoln, Poland-Chinas. 

Grant Crawford, Lincoln, Poland-Chinas. 

P. L. Brown, Sylvan Grove, Herefords. 

C. H. Errebo, Denmark, Herefords. 

James Williams, Sylvan (xrove. Polled Angus. 

H. P. Bacon, Sylvan Grove, Poland-Chinas and Shorthorns. 

Chas. Tilton, Lincoln, Poland-Chinas. 

Henry Aufdemberge, Lincoln, Shorthorns. 

G. K. Smith, Lincoln, Shorthorns and Red Polls. 

C. H. Williams, Sylvan Grove, Shorthorns. 

Lee Skiles, Sylvan Grovf, Herefords. 



118 



History of Lincoln Coutdy 



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History of Lincoln County 



119 



V. A. PLYMAT, 

SHORTHORNS. 



Mr. Plymat who has been in the stock busi- 
ness for five years has a herd of twenty-five 
head. He beUeves it is better to keep stock in 
good growing and utility condition, so has avoid- 
ed the practice of fattening his animals for shows. 
His stock is low, blocky and short-legged. Mr. 
Plymat owns about a section of land three miles 
north of Barnard and sells all his stock from this 
farm. He makes no special sales, but farmers and 
others wishing good, useful animals, will find 
them always in salable condition at the right prices 
at the Plymat Farm, three miles north of Barnard. 



C. H. ERREBO, 
Thoroughbred Hereford Cattle, 

Established in 1902. 




Head of the Herd HARRISON. 
Cows BELINDA and ELSIE. 

Mr. Errebo has a fine herd of 100 head. He began by 
buyinjif 40 head of Whittaker's best animals. The cat- 
tle are raised for sale purposes and sold from the farm. 
Stock already for sale. — C. H. Erricbo, Denmark, Kans, 



120 



History of Lincoln County 





TOPEKA ^ 
Ili.ll3.ll5.il7 EAST EIGHTH AVE 



r KANS. 



FURNISHES: 

A Complete Business Education, 
A Course in Commercial Law, 
Telegraphy, R. R. Office Work, 
Civil Service Instruction. 

Special Courses for advanced work in 
Expert Accounting, 
Verbatim Reporting, 
Telegraphic Newspaper Work, 
Civil Engineering, 
English Course, 
Teachers' Course. 



Night School 



Lect 



ures 



Students are trained not according to theory 
but according to the actual demands of practical 
business life. 

Enrollment Seven Hundred Per Year. 

104 page Illustrated Catalogue EREE, by 
mentioning this book. 




History of Lincoln County 121 



The Evolution of Business Methods 



The business methods o\. pi-e-historic days consisted mostly in 
trading and stealing. The Pawnee Indians employed the latter 
to a considerable extent, and did it in a businesslike way. J. R. 
Mead tells of a party of them being out on a raid and on running 
into a party of white men began to swap knives, thereby getting 
into a quarrel. Their chief rode up and restored order, saying: 
"You are out to steal ponies and not to raise quarrels." 

Another primitive business method was trickery. An Indian 
came to "Uncle Mart" Hendrickson and asked to buy some meal. 
As Uncle Mart measured it out the Indian took off his shirt and 
had the meal poured onto it. Then he said he didn't have any 
money. He knew that nobody would want the meal after it be- 
ing in the dirty, sweaty shirt, so picked it up and walked off 
chuckling. 

But these primitive business methods have passed away and 
so have the people that used them, before the tides of civiliza- 
tion and system. In their place have come new methods which 
are learned by a thorough scientific training. No one expects 
to get through the world on native ability alone, or to live on 
his wits. He knows that in the present highly organized com- 
mercial world, he must haA'^e a special education to prepare him 
for filling his place. So he selectes an institution which makes 
a specialty of Training men for business life, and one which has 
years of success behind it to recommend it and justify its meth- 
ods — the Topeka Business College for instance, whose graduates, 
thousands in number, go out daily from the school to responsible, 
well-paying positions all over the United States, many occupying 
some of the most important positions in large business establish- 
ments and receiving salaries which would make a king look like 
thirty cents. Still others have large business establishments of 
their own. The graduates of the Topeka Business College who 
are at work in the Santa Ke ottices in Topeka alone number 
182. Scores of others have gone to the Santa Fe offices in other 
cities from Chicago to San Francisco. This is the largest list 
of students from any school in any one office in the United States 
and is the highest endorsement for the methods of this school. 

Not only are all graduates placed in positions but many of the 
undergraduates have been found capable of performing the most 
difficult kinds of office work and one hundred and twenty such 
persons have been placed in good positions during the past year. 



122 History of Lincoln County 



There are plenty of opportunities tor competent young business 
people in Topeka. TJiere are tiie general offices of the great 
Santa Fe system, the headquarters of the Rock Island's Western 
system, offices of the Union and Missouri Pacific, the various 
United States, State, county, and other offices, besides the com- 
mercial establishments of all kinds. There is nothing haphazard 
about these modern business methods. There are no its or ands 
to your success if you get the right kind of training, it paves 
the road to wealth. You will be sure to get it at THE TOPEKA 
BUSINESS COLLEGE. 



To Late to be Classified 



1 saw a man the other day who had three ears of corn each 
as long as his forearm. That's pretty good corn. Back in the 
'80s a Lincoln County woman living over on Spring Creek used 
to eat ten that size every day for dinner. 

When the body of John Lyden was taken from the well after 
being there three weeks it was taken to the court house. That 
was the winter after gras.shopper year and there was grain and 
meal piled up which was being doled out to the destitute. The 
body was placd among these supplies. A man, Davis by name, 
said he thought it ought not to have been put there. Mr. Priest 
spoke up: 

"Well, all that ails you is that you're not hungry enough. I've 
seen the day when 1 would have rolled that fellow over to get 
meal under him." 

In the church history, which failed to be included in this book, 
there is an account of how "Uncle Uan " Day went to church and 
instead of going in stood on the outside and knocked on the door. 

Uncle Martin Hendrickscn, one of our oldest settlers, has lived 
through a great deal. Some years ago his wife gave him some 
carbolic acid by mistake and he drank a large amount of it. Ev- 
erybody thought he would die, but Uncle Mart, having lived 
through all the terrors incident to pioneer days was not to be 
killed by such a small thing as a dose of carbolic acid. He ral- 
lied and was much better the next day, and to the surprised re 
marks of the neighbors the doctor answered: "You would have 
to cut Uncle Mart's head off and hide it before he would die." 

Pioneers of Lincoln County used to practice economy. It was 
the cardinal virtue in those days. The following story Is told 



History of Lincoln Ceunty 123 

ot a prominent man who lived on the east side of the county. 
Mr. H. used to make molasses and had a pair of pants which he 
always wore when into such a job. The pants got so stiff with 
molasses and dirt that they would stand alone. After the sea- 
son was over he had vinegar to sell and the neighbors bought 
liberally. One day a family, Hughes by name, had a harvest 
hand to dinner. Mr. Huges passed the vinegar but his man did 
not take any, whereupon Mr. Hughes remarked, "Have some vin- 
egar, 1 guess It is pretty good." 

"it ought to be," replied the other, "it was made of the soak- 
in's of Mr. H.'s molasses pants." 

There was a scare sent out over the State that the sunflowers 
-were about to be exterminated. Not in Lincoln County. A wo- 
man living on the east side of the county planted some climbing 
beans beside sunflower stalks. After the beans had begun climlv 
ing up the stalks there came a good rain. The next morning 
she found that the sunflowers had grown so fast that they had 
jerked the beans out of the ground and the fresh, moist earth 
was still dining to their roots. 

Many funny things have happened in the Lincoln County 
courts, some of which are not dignified enough for print even in 
this book, but here is one which happened in the year 1872 which 
will past muster. 

Lawj^er: "Did Smith strike Brown with malicious Intent?" 

Witness: "Su-r-r?" 

Lawyer: "Did Smith strike Brown with malicious intent?" 

Witness: "No, su-r-r, he hit him with a cottonwood limb." 

A few people in Lincoln County have committed suicide, some 
'by drowning, some by hanging, and some by shooting ,but a cer- 
tain very original man stuck his nose in his ear and blew his 
head off. 

We heard a man say the other day that he would believe any 
kind of a cyclone story. Here is one for him: A cyclone once 
lifted and carried half a mile a man who was so fat that on 
■coming down his shadow killed a full-grown buftalo. 

Now go and patronize our advertiseio. 



Table of Contents 



IBarnard 83 

Beverly 88 

Building tlie Courthouse 47 

doming of the White Men 14 

County Organization 43 

County Seat Contest 44 

Dedication 3 

Denmarlv 96 

Evolution of Business Methods 121 

Geology of Lincoln County 7 

Grasshoppers 49 

Growth and Development 50 

Indian Troubles of 1868 30 

Kansas Christian College 104 

Lincoln 65 

Newspaper History 110 

On the Roll of Honor 56 

Organizations 107 

Prairie Fires 51 

Pre-historic 10 

Pennsylvania Store 68 

Preface 5 

Haid of 1869 37 

Railroad History 51 

Resources 114 

School History 97 

Settlements 21 

Some Old Settlers 61 

Stock Business 117 

Sylvan Grove 79 

The Cleary Case 52 

The Lyden Murder 49 

The Medicine Man ." 23 

The MofRt Boys 18 

The Mulberry Scrap 36 

Too Late to be Classified 122 

Vesper 92 



KANSAS I'ARMEK JOU Ol'KlCE, 
TOPKIvA, KANSAS. 



